Brother, Where Are You?
by 1Thunderfire
Summary: Faced with the prospect of saving his captured brother, Luigi must delve into the dark mansion to find Mario. He must also be able to find the courage within himself to do so. Meanwhile, Mario must wait and hope that he will be freed by his brother...
1. Luigi: The Stout Hearted Brother

**Hi there! I think Luigi's Mansion is a classic and hopefully there'll be a 3DS sequel? This is going to be a two-shot, one half belonging to Luigi, the other to Mario. Trivia: It is believed in some cultures that the spirit takes 49 days to prepare for the afterlife. Hence Madame Clairvoya's abilities.**

* * *

**Luigi: The stout-hearted brother**

In the midst of an icy cold wind and pelting raindrops that ferociously battered the ground beneath it, a young man stood alone, seemingly indifferent to the harsh elements of the night; instead, his attention was fixated upon the looming, lonely Mansion that stood massively at the end of a narrow, snaking path. The spectral blue fire that burned in brackets on either side of its front door threatened to blow out, leaving only wisps of smoke behind in this barely tolerable weather. Strange... it seemed to have been perfectly fine not too great a distance or time ago. It must have been the ethereal energies here that affected the atmosphere in the near vicinity of the Mansion. The spirits had lingered in the Mansion since it unexpectedly arose mere days ago according to the Professor who lived close by in his little underground lab. As it was also situated quite nearby the Boo Woods, the Professor had assumed that this place would not be trespassed upon. However...

Luigi, green-clad brother and one half of a heroic duo trembled although whether this was due to the precipitation or his own personal fears, one couldn't be entirely sure. Clutching the Game Boy Horror that he had been given so hard that the Professor feared it might break, Luigi cautiously moved forwards towards the entrance of the ghost-ridden Mansion, to where he had already come and found out that the place was haunted. For him, it was fortunate that he had begun to make Professor E. Gadd's acquaintance after that particular incident in the upstairs Parlour.

He gazed back just the once; his hair billowed about in the wind and his teeth were threatening to chatter, possibly due to the cold. He couldn't have heard any words that E. Gadd may have liked to impart but Luigi did see the old man wave rather cheerily to him, wishing him encouragement as if this was an everyday outing. Pulling his hat down firmly, Luigi reached the door of this terrible place and shivering slightly, switched on his torch and let the door creak open...

Luigi flinched as if expecting to see a spectre lurking in the shadows, waiting to pop out deviously grinning. He was therefore surprised, to see sitting in the corner besides a set of drawers with an unlit lamp, one of the Toads from the castle, bawling his little eyes out. Luigi's presence had not yet been alerted to him. Luigi let out an inaudible sigh; why had this Toad decided to come? He didn't want anybody to put themselves in danger when they had little hope and practically no chance of being able to do what they could to help the situation. A flash of lightning illuminated the Toad's red polka-dots and the rumble of thunder that followed it made the Toad jump and squeak in fear. Then he noticed Luigi standing there in front of him; holding some sort of device while hoisting some sort of portable vacuum cleaner on his back. That machine was the Poltergust 3000, the Professor's pride and joy. It was designed so that any ghost-hunter would be able to capture a spirit with ease, something Luigi was grateful for.

"_No matter how strong you think your brother is..."_ Luigi remembered the Professor's early words of warning. _"Ghosts are mysterious beings; they can't be caught using conventional means. So you'd better use this, it's the only way to foil 'em!" _This was why his brother hadn't returned yet, why he had to go looking for him. Because they had both believed some stupid contest...

The Toad rushed up to Luigi and hugged his lower waist (for he was unable to reach much higher) and continued crying: "Oh, Luigi! Thank g-goodness you're here! I've been worried sick; Mario's been m-m-missing for ages now and you've no idea how w-worried the Princess has been! We've g-got to f-f-find him or else the Princess will flip! I t-t-tried looking for him but there are ghosts everywhere! I-I freaked out and came here. What if he's lost in this g-g-ghost house forever and then B-B-B-Bowser would come and kidnap the P-Princess again and there would be n-nobody to stop him! And then, without M-M-M-Mario, he would take over the Mushroom K-Kingdom and then-"

"Do you really think I'd let this kingdom go to wrack and ruin, Toad?" asked Luigi, disguising his emotion of hurt and annoyance as he comforted Toad. "Even without Mario? Or are my abilities not to be trusted?"

Toad sniffed loudly. "W-W-W-W-Well..." He broke down into further noisy tears. Being the kind-hearted man that he was, Luigi couldn't help but pity him.

"Don't worry," he said, feeling more confident than he felt. "I'll find Mario and we'll be back out here in no time!" Thankfully, the Toad was cheered up by this.

"Thanks, Luigi. You've made my dark and stormy night," he mumbled.

The light beside the pair suddenly switched on, casting a lovely glow that made them feel slightly more reassured.

"There are a few of us here, Luigi," said Toad. "We were all really worried so Princess Peach sent us out just to make absolutely sure. You know what she feels for him... not that she doesn't think any less of you!" he said hastily glancing at Luigi's expression. "Of course not! But she is very concerned and we weren't too sure where you were and-"

"It's alright, I get it," said Luigi in a flat tone of voice. "Now if you would let go of me..."

"Oh! Sorry!" squeaked Toad as he jumped back from the tall, lithe human who had come heroically to search for his brother. There was no need to worry; absolutely no need to worry at all...

"We're all going to die..." he whispered to himself as he watched Luigi ascend the stairs and shakily place a hand on the doorknob before entering the room in which he had previously encountered the ghosts.

* * *

Luigi wished that he could be as brave as Mario but whenever he tried to muster up the courage for anything dangerous; sooner or later, his nerves would be shattered to pieces by one isolated incident and his fears would increase tenfold. Nevertheless, he had always tried to hold it together for the sake of the Mushroom Kingdom and if only to show his brother that he too, was capable of living up to his duty as Protector of the Kingdoms. He was always scared for Mario whenever he went off on his adventures and neglected to tell Luigi where he was going; he had always been lucky and back in relatively one piece but one never knew when it may be his last... so despite his so-called cowardice, Luigi usually accompanied his brother whenever he could as the alternatives were too harsh to think about. That was why he was here now.

Luigi cowered on the spot as the paintings on the wall of the Parlour shook their frames and began emitting eerie voices; all intending to insult his so-called bravery and status as a hero; all determined to see that the trespasser was brought down. They cackled merrily; what sport they were having!

"Dark rooms are dangerous around here... yesssssss..." one of the oil paintings whispered threateningly. Luigi felt a breath of cold air down the back of his neck and shuddered. He held onto the nozzle of his Poltergust 3000 for protection. "Don't think you'll be getting out of here... _alive!_"

"What's the matter? Scared are we?" another sneered. "Hahahaha, a pathetic weakling like you will not last long here if we have _our_ way..."

"They're all coming for you... just like little Red-Cap before you... And your spirit will nourish us greatly..." spoke a malevolent figure. "If you die, that is good for us but if you leave, _that_ will not be good for your brother... So why don't you go and save your own skin?"

Luigi, faced with the prospect of a barrage of ghosts, frowned with new-found determination and said: "Try me."

"It speaks!" the first ghost mocked. "But for how long?"

"We do not have to fight..." said the second ghost delicately. "Lay down your life willingly and we'll promise very little pain. Your brother will be released without harm..."

The spectres then materialised around Luigi, all stared at him hungrily as the person in front of them was alive; warm-blooded, possessing a thumping heart; he was truly alive. Unfortunately, the other one had not been promised to them and neither had this one. But promises were made to be broken; who trusted Boos anyway?

The third of the conversing ghosts; sharp fangs viciously bared, lunged itself at Luigi, unable to wait any longer; the temptation of the flesh was too much to resist. Luigi, thinking fast on his feet, rolled out of the way although he let out a gasp as he partially went through the body of another and felt like he was suddenly submerged in an ice-cold bath. Holding his weapon tightly; remembering what he had been recently taught by the good Professor; Luigi let the Poltergust 3000 rip. Number Three was immediately caught in its suction and screeched as it tried to escape but to no avail as Luigi drained the spectre of its energy and brought it to rest in the hidden confines of the Poltergust 3000. He carefully kept an eye on the others as they tried to sneak past his line of sight while he was preoccupied with an individual. Luigi wished that the only light in the room did not emanate from the ghosts themselves but from the lamps or even a set of candles; they showed him that they were altogether real. As he struggled with two at once; Luigi was suddenly attacked from behind and was knocked forcibly onto the wooden flooring with a heavy punch. One of the ghosts that Luigi had been tackling fled into thin air as he picked himself up. Full of rage, Luigi launched the suction of the Poltergust 3000 at the remaining two and fought every direction with its opposite.

Wrenching the vacuum upwards, the last two vanished into its depths and Luigi almost stumbled backwards; the sudden lack of pull surprised him. The lights above flickered on and showed the dust that floated daintily in the air. In the middle of the room, a treasure chest materialised into existence, containing a key and the thorns that had covered the doors quickly drew back.

Luigi, shaking with exertion, wiped his face and replaced the nozzle on his back. Alas, he knew that this was only the beginning...

* * *

"Mamma mia," he groaned quietly as he finished his battle with the second Portrait Ghost; one of those that Professor E. Gadd had mentioned earlier to him. "Thank goodness that's over with."

E. Gadd's life work was that of studying ghosts for he found them to be incredibly fascinating subjects; he wondered how they existed on the earth and why these particular ghosts had not moved onto the spirit world. That was the basis of his research anyway. To make capturing ghosts easier, he had spent some time developing the Poltergust 3000; a handy method of capturing the once-invincible. These were then put through the most advanced containment equipment in his lab: the Ghost Portrificationizer in which he was able to turn these captured ghosts, obtained in various parts of the Mushroom World and study at leisure. All went swimmingly except when he caught Boolossus which did not greatly amuse their leader King Boo. He decided to exact revenge and released every single Portrait Ghost; all of E. Gadd's work! And then, he had the most delicious idea of capturing the hated Mario Bros. within a ghostly mansion, one after the other, he wasn't particularly bothered by the order.

Despite having successfully caught two strong Portrait Ghosts Neville and Lydia, Luigi kicked the wall with frustration, unable to believe how easily he had been led into a trap and having dragged his brother into it as well. He felt humiliated, having let his guard just that once and he knew that he would be judged far more harshly for it than they ever would with Mario. Luigi walked down the dark corridor; torch held steadily as he moodily thought that nobody would consider him able to rescue his brother. And the Toads would do so much better? Huh.

The next room Luigi entered in was the Nursery. He might have relaxed had he not been warned earlier by E. Gadd that he had detected a stronger spirit than he had faced thus far. Luigi chuckled to himself, noticing the toys scattered about and the wooden horse in the corner; why, he used to have one of those! He nudged it and watched it ride back and forth... until the baby awoke in its crib.

The baby named Chauncey wandered over him holding a rattle and wearing too devious a grin for a baby. The hairs on the back of Luigi's neck immediately stood on end.

"Hey! You woke me up!" Chauncey whined. "You gotta play with me now. Wanna play?" This game involved launching several teddy bears at Luigi with the intention of draining his energy. Startled, Luigi avoided the projectiles and picked up a ball with the Poltergust 3000 before launching it directly at the baby. It struck him on the head which only caused Chauncey to become _very_ angry.

"Ow!" he cried. "You gave me an owie! I only wanted to play with you! Why must you be so mean? I hate grown-ups! Why do you have to be bigger than meeeee?" Chauncey started shaking his rattle as if it was some sort of voodoo tool; Luigi backed off, scared by this baby! "Small! Now grow smaller! Itsy! Tiny! Little! Smaller than meeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Whoa!" Luigi cried as the world around him suddenly descended into shadows similar to that of the Subspace World. He was thrown face down but thankfully on a soft surface. He leapt up and looked around him before suddenly realising something. "Mamma mia! What in the heck's going on? I've shrunk!"

Sitting on the edge of the crib was the baby that now looked to be three times his size. He shook the rattle threateningly before winking at his opponent. When the massive balls and speeding rocking-horses were aimed at Luigi; he knew that he was never going to look at those toys the same way again...

* * *

The Game Boy Horror came to life in his hand; the sound was still crackly. The Professor was trying to contact him. "Krrr... Lu...i...gi ...Krrr..." Dazed from his latest battle and his head throbbing with agony; it took several moments for Luigi to fumble around with the device before switching the communicator on. The Professor sounded relieved.

"Oh, thank goodness, my boy," said E. Gadd as soon as they made contact. "It seemed that I couldn't reach you before. That must have been some battle you had there!"

"It was just a baby," said Luigi in disbelief. E. Gadd nodded knowingly.

"That Chauncey... he was born a ghost you know. You get that sometimes... not often but sometimes. You'd best come back to the lab for a moment, lad. Your Poltergust 3000 will need some emptying. Maybe take a quick break too; you look pretty tuckered!"

Luigi shook his head and staggered to his feet. "I can't rest; I need to find Mario as quick as possible! Everyone's counting on me!" _If they are counting on me,_ he thought bitterly.

E. Gadd seemed thoughtful. "From what you've told me about King Boo and what I know myself, he won't do anything until he's got the both of you. So try not to worry, lad and get down here. Like I say, you have to anyway."

Later on, once Luigi headed out again, this time more urgently than before, E. Gadd wondered where he had met him before although Luigi didn't seem to recognise him. Or was he mistaking him with somebody else? No... He was quite sure that he wasn't, his memory wasn't failing yet! Luigi also seemed to be rather stressed, not just over the sake of Mario being missing but something else. Of course he had heard of the brothers' escapades, who hadn't? But Luigi tended to be less well-known, less received... less appreciated. It must have hurt the poor lad, thinking in that way that his efforts seemed to be all in vain. Aha! E. Gadd remembered now! He had met the adult brothers and their younger selves about twenty years ago when he was working in his lab at Thwomp Volcano. And then there was that eruption and he moved to Boo Woods, etc, etc. But for that to have occurred, one would need a time machine...

"Well," said Professor E. Gadd to himself. "Looks like that's my next project decided!" He then returned to his lab underground, grasping a large cup of coffee and sitting in front of the monitor. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Luigi," he muttered out-loud. "I've every confidence in you!"

Later on, the Professor was snoozing in his comfortable chair when the alarm on his monitor suddenly rang manically making him throw his self off. "Good gravy!" he exclaimed as he pressed a button to communicate. "I hope this is urgent!" He had just been dreaming up plans on how to make a levitation jacket too. Luigi's panicked voice came on the other end.

"I'm an idiot! A bloody idiot!" he garbled. "I can't believe I just did that! This isn't going to help Mario at all! What have I done? I'm good-for-nothing! I'm a fool, nothing but a stupid, cowardly fool..."

"Calm down, lad and talk slowly!" said E. Gadd. "Whatever you've done, don't beat yourself up over it! That's not going to do anyone any good. So spill the beans, what's happened?"

"I... I... I've released the Boos from their secret hiding place..."

E. Gadd laughed jovially. "Well, at least you've found 'em! But... perhaps you shouldn't have let them all out, eh?"

Luigi slid onto the floor just outside the room which he would soon find belonged to Madame Clairvoya and sighed despondently. "I didn't know where they were all hiding but there was this switch behind this poster but I didn't take the hint. They said that they were going to do the same thing to me as they did to Mario... only worse. They really hate my guts... and everybody back home just thinks that I'm useless. Useless, useless, useless..."

"Hey now," said E. Gadd gently. "You're doing a very good thing here; I don't know how many people would willingly enter a dangerous, frightening place, risking their lives in the process even if it is to save their relatives. You haven't given up have you?"

Luigi stiffened. "Of course not."

"Excellent! You care for your brother obviously and I'm sure that Mario will appreciate everything that you are doing for him. You just need to believe in yourself really; putting yourself down all the time isn't going to achieve anything. Besides, courage is being afraid and yet still going on and being able to master your fear which is what you're doing now by defeating all of these ghosts. And also, it would be a good idea to get those Boos anyway, whether you've released them or not."

Luigi smiled softly and picked himself up. "Thanks, Professor."

"Just get through this lot and thank me then." E. Gadd then hung up and left Luigi holding a silent Game Boy Horror. He stood there for a moment, taking in the Professor's words before turning around and entering the room of the fortune-teller.

"Whoa... just what kind of place is this Mansion anyway?" Luigi mused to himself as he slipped into the room, letting the light from the torch shine directly onto a Crystal Ball. The Crystal Ball's light grew brighter and brighter until at last, its call was answered and a most mysterious figure entered from the spiritual world and took its place in front of the Crystal Ball. Her name was Madame Clairvoya.

"Hark! Who awakens me so from my slumber?" she cried out, intending to scare whoever the intruder was. "I shall warn you that I can see 49 days into the future and perhaps I may predict your death in that time!"

She then looked closely at the figure standing in front of her, shaking like a leaf, gulping nervously as he tried to speak but nevertheless, he resolutely looked her in the face. She saw before her a young, moustachioed, rather handsome man, similar-looking to an individual whom she had saw being dragged unconscious through the dark corridors earlier by a barrage of Boos. How intriguing...

"I am Madame Clairvoya," she announced to the scared plumber. "I am a seer of the Spirit World and I am able to contact the spirits through the dropped items of a person. No doubt you are looking for somebody close to you. And I can help you with that only if you trust me..." She stared at him through mystic eyes causing a sudden strange feeling within Luigi; his heart pounded slightly faster and he felt quite drowsy.

"Hold on," he said slowly, painfully aware that he was communicating with a phantom; a being that was technically dead. He was wary that she did not plan to attack him and to steal his life force. "Why do you want to help me? All of your friends out there have been trying to kill me and no doubt there's plenty more! Why should I trust you? You could be working for _them! _You want to-"

Luigi was startled into silence when Madame Clairvoya touched his lips to hush him. He wondered with some difficulty why he hadn't run away at this point but her touch was cool but not unpleasant and inexplicably, he felt a lot calmer. He barely registered the hand moving over to the spot directly above his heart as she listened to his heartbeat slowing down until it reached sensible levels. The life force inside him was immensely powerful; no wonder he was attracting so many ghosts. Alas, no matter how much they tried to take, these ghosts were not all that they seemed and so they could never hold onto what did not belong to them. She sensed that he had a good heart but he was still quite petrified despite her calming influence. Madame Clairvoya sat back again, her curiosity satisfied. Luigi stood as if in a trance and blinked when he noticed his surroundings again.

"Do not think that we are all friends here just because we are sharing the same house," she whispered. "Some of the people here, you wouldn't believe what they are like. And no, you refer to the Boos but I have no affiliation with them... Pray tell me who you are looking for."

"Mario," said Luigi quietly. "My brother." Madame Clairvoya looked simply delighted.

"Why, you must then be Luigi! Brother of the famous Mario. And you have come looking for him, well aren't you a good little brother!" She laughed but coughed horribly. "Excuse me, I do not laugh much. But anyway, we know a lot about you and your brother. Yes, destiny chooses our paths, Luigi..." She sat there, thinking for a long moment taking Luigi in, considering him. "When you have some items that may tell us of your missing one's location, return to me and I shall tell you your fortune..."

Luigi nodded dumbly and still staring at her, exited the room. He did not return until quite some time later when he had collected a few items of Mario's and captured more portrait ghosts. He had been calling out for Mario, hoping for a response of some kind but nothing. _Brother,_ he thought miserably. _Where are you? _He handed the items over to Madame Clairvoya upon request, glad that he had some ally to aid him on his way, even if she was a ghost. He was still slightly unnerved by her presence and yet he felt partially at peace. What was all that about?

"Aah, good, you have found Mario's hat. It looks so clean... AS IF SOMEONE'S JUST WASHED IT! Sorry," she said, trying not to laugh at Luigi jumping back and slamming into the wall. "I like to add drama. Now let me see..." Madame Clairvoya began to contact the spirits although Luigi wasn't entirely whether much of this was put on. He was still quite fascinated by her however. _Huh? Where did that thought come from? _Luigi was confused by this spirit."Ohhh... Harummm... I see that your Mario lives... Well, he is not in the spirit world... but one cannot say he is alive..." She laughed again, possibly to add drama. "Where is he? Where is he now? ...Ah, the spirits fall silent! This is all I can tell you for now! Bring to me another clue and I will show your brother to you. This clue no longer speaks to us..." she handed him back the hat which Luigi held protectively. He wished that Mario wouldn't put it through the washing machine though; it came out far better when washed by hand.

When he gave the next couple of items, she was able to tell Luigi that his brother was imprisoned somewhere... no hold on a moment... work stupid orb, oh! He was trapped in a painting, held somewhere in the Mansion where an odd altar lay. And he had been captured by... King Boo, yes, King Boo! That devious ghost, it was quite obvious really considering all of the Boos that he had accidentally released earlier; they all worked for King Boo didn't they?

"Aah... I think that there are some more clues that need to be found so that we can determine exactly where your beloved Mario is," said Madame Clairvoya. "He is sure to be found before the moon fades from the night sky! I am a seer after all, I can predict such things."

"Are you sure?" Luigi queried. His sharp intake of breath was heard by her as he shifted and disturbed his aggravating injuries. Madame Clairvoya looked concerned but there was nothing she could do; she wasn't a healer after all, just a fortune-teller.

Luigi tried to ignore the pain and headed towards the door again, sighing as he knew of the other ghosts that he needed to find and that... he would have to battle King Boo at some point. That creature terrified him; he could see his gleaming red eyes now...

Madame Clairvoya watched him leave and settled back, relaxing in the comfort of her darkened room. Luigi did not know yet that when he had found all of Mario's items, she would have to take her leave. Madame Clairvoya liked being inside a portrait; there was sweet happiness in oils. But if there was a moment where she would have liked to have been alive and human again if only for a brief moment, then it would have been before Luigi walked out of that door...

* * *

Luigi slid down the ladder into the well, wondering why that other Toad had been crying so much, he couldn't get any coherent words out of him, just a direction, leading down the well to wherever it finished. Luigi was feeling a little more confident now for he had successfully captured many Portrait Ghosts and Boos although at the cost of personal injury. There were three long claw marks raked all the way down his back and his entire body was aching strongly. However, Luigi could and would stand the pain if it meant that Mario would be freed. And yet, he still hadn't seen him with his own eyes. He breathed heavily, feeling the weight of the Poltergust 3000 rest uncomfortably from his shoulders.

"Are you down here, Mario?" he whispered to himself. "Mario, where are you? I know you're here somewhere. Please... wherever you are, I'm coming for you."

Luigi could hear the sounds of the whistling wind outside and the rain sheeting it down still; he shivered as the freezing water made its way into his bones. There wasn't time to dry off though, not even if he used the fire element of his Poltergust 3000. He felt quite proud of having acquired this ability to see elemental ghosts; it gave further rein over his own abilities. The Professor had also informed him earlier that there were water and ice elemental ghosts as well. He had noted joyfully earlier that if he kept this up and discovered perhaps other elemental spirits, Luigi could become the master of ghosts! Luigi declined this offer and told the Professor that he was welcome to it.

Thankfully, there was some light at the end of the tunnel although with Luigi's pessimistic thoughts, he wouldn't have been surprised if it was a flamethrower. Nevertheless, the source of light was welcome for his eyes were too used to the dark by now. Light meant safety from most of the ghosts apart from the Boos of course but then, there was only ever one per room. However, much to Luigi's dismay, there was no room for him to squeeze through the hole where the light was coming from, even if he removed the machine from his back. Ah well, maybe he could find another way in...

Peering through the hole (which was the mouth of a fanged head) Luigi cautiously cast his gaze around the room; hoping to find something, anything of importance. His breath crystallised in the air showing that this place was also as chilled. He then noticed the odd altar of which Madame Clairvoya had spoken of and saw the glow of King Boo by its side. Luigi frowned as he heard the spectral monarch laugh merrily, seemingly talking to himself, he couldn't see anybody else in the room. Where was-?

No... Wait... Luigi looked up, he knew what had happened but it hadn't prepared him for the sight that hit him. Mario... Mario was trapped inside a glass painting. He was trying to break free despite knowing that his efforts were in vain. His cheek was bleeding from where he had managed to cut himself in his exertions.

"Mario..." Luigi whispered; his voice seemingly strangulated. "What have they done to you?"

Luigi did not know how long he crouched there, taking in the sight of his brother, forcibly held against his will by King Boo. No doubt he wanted Luigi too; he wanted the satisfaction of both of them trapped together with no hope of escaping; none at all. Luigi's fingers brushed the air in front of him as if he hoped to catch Mario's attention or somehow reach him. His world-famous brother; caught in the trap of a Boo and it was all his own fault...

Tears trickled down Luigi's cheeks; his body shook with emotion. Who knew what King Boo had been doing to Mario while he was searching for him or what he might do afterwards once he had captured all of the other Boos. Luigi slammed a fist into the stone wall, almost crying out in anger. How had he managed to believe that he had received a mansion in a contest that he hadn't entered? It was deplorable and he was ashamed of it.

Mario had noticed his brother from behind the mocking King Boo and saw how upset he was. He knew that he blamed himself but King Boo had been planning revenge for some time now... he would have tried another plan if this one had failed. It was fate, he guessed. King Boo then vanished leaving Mario on his own with his brother just out of reach. He tried to catch Luigi's eye but he had left before another minute passed. Mario ached with the brotherly love that he felt for him. He knew that Luigi would rescue him...

* * *

Luigi ran as fast as he could, not caring whether his pain would flare up ten times worse than before. From the bottom of the well, he used the Poltergust 3000 to viciously suck up a Purple Bomber ghost and grabbed the key that it had held. He clambered up the ladder, desperately thinking over Mario's entrapment. How would he save him now? His mind worked in overdrive as he remembered some words that he had read in the Book of Riddles:

'_Mysteries appear wherever people turn but turning away from them solves nothing. Instead of turning away, turn to the side and look at the mystery from a different view. A way will surely open.'_

Luigi paused for a moment. He would do anything to get Mario out of there but the question was: did he have enough courage to do so? Well, he was too scared to run away that's for sure. Ahahaha, it was a curious thought.

Luigi dragged himself up into the stormy Courtyard again and felt the heaviness of his task all the more. But he smiled. This was another challenge, just another challenge...


	2. Mario: The Ever Watchful Brother

**Wow… thanks for the brilliant reviews, people! I'm gonna get emotional… *sniff* I apologise for having left it for so long but, you know, work and stuff. ^^; I've decided to make into a three-shot instead, one for reunion. And I shall include more Portrait Ghosts like Melody. Enjoy. :)**

* * *

**Mario: The ever-watchful brother**

As sworn protector of the Mushroom Kingdom and hero of the highest order; it came as no surprise to him that wherever he went, he was constantly pestered by people with adoration in their eyes and hero-worship on their minds. Perhaps it was just to look at him and be acquainted with his charismatic personality. Sure now, the red-capped plumber seriously did not look like the world's best contender for fighting evil but there he was; always willing to put his life on line to save those from the dark hands of evil. The inhabitants of Toad Town seemed especially gracious and somewhat smug in the knowledge that the world's well-known hero resided in _their_ town. With such a person on their side; there was no possible way that evil could triumph. He could go against it all; he was Super Mario.

It was therefore, embarrassing, for one of his calibre to have been trapped so easily; so gullibly as to be a mere novice. Well, it had to happen at some time and in any case, he had brought joy to a select group of people; namely the Boos.

Mario sighed as he attempted to shatter the barrier of his, for want be of a better word, cage. He knew that resistance was futile since this thing was practically unbreakable but nevertheless, he refused to acknowledge this and kept up his vigorous attempts of freedom. He honestly didn't know how Peach managed it; sitting ever so daintily in whatever room she had been placed in, waiting for her hero to come along; to rescue her; to bring her home to her beloved subjects. She dearly loved her little plumber; the man who was so much more than he seemed and was always very affectionate with. He had to smile at that as he softly placed a hand on the unbreakable glass. And yet Mario's thoughts were not wholly preoccupied with that of the princess at the moment but someone else closer to his heart. His brother, Luigi.

He was supposed to have met his brother here, at the front of this mansion but unable to keep his curiosity contained, Mario just had to have a look around this peculiar and yet strangely familiar place. Now he wished he had been more patient; it probably wouldn't have been much longer to wait before Luigi arrived anyway. He knew that his recklessness was a major downfall of his and this trait had played wonderfully into the ghostly hands of the Boos.

Ah, the Boos. Those supposedly shy spirits who had now seem to have come out of their shell to use a term belonging to Koopas. Many a time ago, they used to hide their faces when an enemy appeared to be looking at them and then only sneaked up upon said enemy when their back was turned; a sly but common Boo tactic. Not that they had needed to on this particular occasion; they had completely outnumbered him and had taken him by surprise.

Mario tried everything in his arsenal to fight back but because of the low intensity of light; he was rendered incapable of being able to physically harm them. Even now, he thought that he could still hear the echoes of their ghostly cackling as; breath stolen away by some mysterious Booish force, he had slipped into the black realm of unconsciousness. Their ghostly abilities seemingly made them invulnerable in this darkness though hopefully, not invincible. Because if that was the case…

Mario groaned; clutching his head as it still throbbed from that earlier ambush. He knew he had been dragged unconscious at some point throughout the Mansion and… then what? He had been slowly coming round when they hoisted him into a loud, devilish-looking machine and… oh, stars above, something had happened. Mario examined his prison more carefully, having been most preoccupied in just getting out of it. He glanced at his surroundings; surmising that he was in an underground chamber of some kind; perfect for the dark-dwelling Boos. Everything glittered as if it had been covered with gold showing the rich tastes that Boos in general had. Two low brackets had blue smoke drifting lazily out of them. Then he noticed the mirror out of the corner of his eye and himself reflected back in it. And what he had been trapped in.

"Mamma mia…" he breathed as his condition dawned upon him. He had been trapped alright; trapped inside a painting of all things. "How? How did they get me in here?"

Thinking about it, it was quite ironic considering one of the occasions in which he had to rescue Princess Peach was in her own castle only that he required numerous Power Stars to do so. He was forever jumping in and out of paintings. One of the paintings led to Big Boo's Haunt and…. ah, retribution.

Surely then, if the Boos had wanted to capture him, then they obviously wanted to capture Luigi too. One Mario brother wouldn't be enough since the other would want to free his trapped sibling. They had to get both at once; payback, for all the times that they had been defeated before in their quest for kingdom domination.

Mario was the bait; Luigi was the missing piece. It could have easily been the other way round but he felt that the Boos preferred the way that things had turned out. Mario clenched his fists and muttered to himself; they would have so much fun terrorising his little brother, safe in the knowledge that nobody else would be coming (or at least, capable of doing anything helpful). They knew Luigi's deep fear of ghosts which only made their fun and games much more delicious. Yes, they would play about with him a little before turning him over to their boss, wherever he was.

Ah, speak of the devil. The Boo materialised directly in front of Mario within the room known as the Secret Altar. He looked up and down at his precious painting before bursting out into maniacal laughter. Mario waited for this triumphant cackling to die down before listening to what he had to say for himself. His red, bejewelled crown gleamed brightly, its light sparkled magnificently when illuminated by the low, hanging chandelier from above. His red eyes burned brightly as well with all the delights of vengeance. He had Mario exactly where he wanted him.

"Ah, Mario," King Boo sighed melodramatically. "Who would ever have thought that the situation would boil down to this, eh? For many years have you been persecuting our kind with the glorious and ridiculous aims of protecting your precious little kingdom. You have been an admirable opponent; it is true and a worthy adversary in our game. But no more! We are playing games no longer. You will be the tool that shall lead your pathetic little brother to us." He allowed himself the satisfaction of a grin as he watched Mario's predictable reaction. "Oh, come, come now. Surely you want to be saving your strength for possible escape instead of this rather amusing tantrum? Hmm? Oh, I apologise, I quite forgot. You can't escape from this painting!"

King Boo could not help but laugh at the red plumber's predicament, especially when in his frustration, Mario charged up a ferocious, burning fireball with the intention of frying the ghostly monarch with it, quite forgetting that the barrier rendered this impossible. He was quite lucky that the worst that had happened was the singeing of his moustache.

"I know that Luigi will come," he said through gritted teeth. "And I don't care what you think about him. He will come and he will defeat you."

"Now surely you don't think we have that low an opinion of him?" asked King Boo as he polished the corners of the painting frame to his liking. It glistened much like the rest of the opulent room. "I do acknowledge the fact that he is as dangerous as you are. Think about it, the pair of you are quite clearly our enemies for the fact that you make it your sole mission to vanquish anything that is deemed to be a threat. But who deems the object to be a threat? Who decides the level of evil in a person? If the decision-makers happen to be you and your brother, then I must question, what does that make the pair of you? And what constitutes heroism?"

Faced with such questions, Mario's rock-hard principles faltered if only for a moment. All that he and his brother faced in the face of true evil; those who wanted to claim the world as their own, those who bent others' lives to their own will, those who revelled in the planning of destruction. But there were also those who were merely followers of such life-forms, hangers-on, minions, they did not show the purpose of true evil and indeed, saw it as something to benefit from for it was safer to be on that side than against it when all hope seemed lost. But for those who loved freedom and justice; they fought so that everybody could have a life.

Everybody deserved a life…

The will for self-sacrifice; the constant display of courage and the aiming for the greater good. All that and the recognition of mercy even to those who did not deserve it. Why else did Bowser, King of the Koopas, still reign in the Dark Lands and still have the freedom to express desire for world domination and constant kidnapping of a princess who did not reciprocate his love? Even he may have something to give to the greater good one day…

Mario and Luigi dedicated themselves to fighting evil that was recognised not just by themselves but ultimately by the citizens themselves, even at the cost of a personal live. They were knighted as the Protectors of the Kingdom; they carried the Star Power. And here King Boo was just playing with his mind…

And King Boo was a threat, just another threat…

The lull in the conversation was interrupted by a soft knocking at the door and King Boo bade the messenger to enter while Mario found himself forging a new-found determination that he would regain his freedom. The Boo Messenger gave a small bow before relaying his words:

"Sire," said the Boo named Booreguard. "It appears that our foe has finally arrived at the Mansion. He is quite unprepared; he is only carrying a torch. Surely he can be no match for us!"

"He is indeed of little match to us," said King Boo lightly. "But still, I want an eye to be kept on this man, just in case he has a few tricks up his sleeve. I do not want him to be underestimated as we have done in the past. And even beforehand, we were only just about lucky with Mario; he quite nearly escaped our grasp, didn't you, Mario?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," he said. "I don't even know how you got me in here!"

"In all due time, I may inform you since it isn't as if you can escape this trap of ours. Do not worry, we shall leave your brother for the time being; the Portrait Ghosts are hankering to feed off an actual mortal since they do lack that precious life force of their own…"

"F-feed off?" Mario stuttered.

"In any case, there are numerous other ghosts about; this place does seem to be overrun with them, doesn't it?" said King Boo, completely ignoring Mario. "They will no doubt want to feed off Luigi as well. With all these spirits, it does impediment our own movement around the Mansion, unfortunately. This makes it somewhat difficult to get to Luigi ourselves but ah, well, let the other ghosts have a bit of fun."

"Fun? You call baiting and no doubt killing my brother fun?"

"And now is the time to take my leave," said King Boo. He turned to face Mario who was suddenly taken aback by his rather more vivid red eyes. "I dare say you will be reunited with your brother soon. Dead or alive, whichever way really."

And ignoring Mario's protests and frantic battering against the barrier, King Boo allowed his servant to leave first before closing the door himself behind him with a resonating click that told Mario he was now on his own with only the distant sounds of pouring rain and the howling winds for company..

* * *

"_GWAHAHAHAHA! Your kingdom belongs to me now and now, you'll belong to me too! Where's your plumber boy now, eh? He still hasn't come and he is never going to come. He's failed you, Princess!"_

_Peach was shaking with terror but still she grasped for the tiniest bit of hope. Mario was probably delayed. There was nobody on this planet that could defeat her knight in overalls. Bowser was surely getting ahead of himself, she thought, too cocky and proud in his mindset that his plans actually worked._

"_I refuse to believe you, Bowser," she cried. "You know that you'll just be beaten by Mario again, like you have been every single time!"_

_Just then, Mario gallantly leapt onto the platform, illuminated by the flashes of white lightning in an otherwise dark, thunderous sky. He tugged on his cap, threatening a challenge and stared down the Koopa King. Peach smiled triumphantly; she knew that Mario would always come for her. He began to stride forwards, safe in the knowledge that Bowser already appeared weakened._

_Then suddenly, a black barrier enveloped him and Mario keeled over, screaming with agony and paralysed onto the very spot. He heard a faint cry from some distance behind him, barely audible over Peach's gasp of fright. He tried moving forwards but the motion was excruciating; so excruciating… Tears ran down his face; he was imprisoned; wrapped in a torture barrier. The world before him was starting to dissolve into blackness. He looked up and saw Peach and Bowser merge into one demonic force with fiery eyes and a shadowy outline. The dark and terrible creature laughed; its voice somehow scintillating and petrifying at the same time. Mario heard the cry again, only this time, it was much louder and with a jolt, he recognised who it was._

"_No…" he croaked._

"_Yes…" it hissed menacingly. "Should have waited for your brother. You should have waited shouldn't you? Always the hero; never thought you'd be the one in trouble. And look. He could have helped you. But now he's paid the price for your neglect."_

"_No…" Mario sobbed. The demonic figure turned into a cackling King Boo who with the voice of his beloved Peach whispered, "Mario. I'm disappointed in you. You've failed me. You've failed everyone."_

"_What about Luigi?" he gasped._

"_Hm? Oh, nobody cares about him. You've forgotten about him before haven't you?" _

_And with a final, nasty cackle, King Boo rushed over Mario, covering him with his Nightmare cloak and everything was lost to view. But in the distance, there was a faint blue light. Mario, finding himself able to move, rushed over to it in case it meant something, anything._

"_Hey! Do you know how to- AHHHHHHHH!" Mario staggered back, clutching at his heart with fear as the ethereal figure turned around, revealing his brother. His face was bloodied, streaked with his own scarlet blood and his eyes glowed white. He seemed to be staring directly into Mario's soul._

"_Why did you leave me behind, Mario?" he said with a whisper as light as the air surrounding them. "Why couldn't you have waited for me? Am I that worthless to you; that you thought you didn't need me? Well, look at me now. You left me behind… and left me to my fate with those monsters…"_

"_Luigi, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"_

"_They took my heart, they took my soul…" Luigi said, his figure becoming ever more shadowy and lined with red light. Mario saw the gaping hole; where his heart should have rested and barely avoided throwing up. Luigi raised an eyebrow. "And you'll be trapped in a painting forever, Mario. I was King Boo's sacrifice; you're going to be his prize."_

_Beside him, King Boo turned up; a flash of white in a world of darkness. Luigi faded away from sight gradually, before Mario's eyes, and the last part of him that disappeared were those glowing orbs of his. Mario cried out and tried to reach his brother, only to be plunged in the dank and cold: King Boo's grasp. His smile belied the hell that was prepared for Mario._

"_Time to say goodbye to life itself, Mario. For you can never escape from the painting."_

_And with one swift movement, a gaping hole opened up beneath the now-forgotten hero and he plunged downwards, the wind rushed past him until he met the red flames of the canvas hell…_

* * *

Mario screamed as he was violently awakened from his nightmare; pouring with sweat and shaking from head to toe. So _that's_ what a nightmare felt like. He knew Luigi to have had them before but he had never experienced them himself. His heart was still pounding horribly fast as he pressed himself against the black canvas wall to support himself. Clearly, this imprisonment business was getting to him…

He wondered how long it would be until he saw his brother since he knew that they were eventually going to meet up in this lonely room that perpetually glittered with all the signs of riches and yet offered no comfort to a man being held against his will. Mario also considered whether Princess Peach, assumedly knowing of his disappearance, had sent out some Toads to seek him out. Mario gave a snort of disapproval; nice as they were, there was no way that they could do anything to help his predicament. Most were terrified by the mere thought of a Boo so how would they react if they actually saw one? Well… suppose that these were more courageous Toads, what would they be saying or thinking as they searched out for him? And, with a sorry sigh, Mario also wondered, didn't they think that Luigi was capable enough to do this on his own?

"_Mario? Mario? Where the heck are you, Mario? The Princess is gonna cream us if we don't find you!"_

"_Did Mario really end up here? I wonder whether he is in here…. ARRRRGHH! THERE ARE GHOSTS IN HERE!"_

"_I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die… I hate ghosts!"_

"_Dude… this place is real scary. If Mario got captured, then what can we do?"_

"_Isn't Luigi coming? Can he help us?"_

"_He will."_

"_He won't."_

"_He will."_

"_He won't…"_

It may have intrigued Mario to know that his imagined conversations were rather accurate to what was being played out. As it was though, the Toads would have to depend on Luigi in the end since he had the actual means of the defeating the spectres. Mario, as he was thinking, wished that they would have more confidence in Luigi and he himself, wished that it hadn't come to this for himself to believe in his brother, now more than ever.

Mario was distracted from his thoughts as out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dim light slowly increasing as something was making its way the dark passage hidden behind the figurehead. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be able to squeeze its way through the small opening. He saw the figure peer through the hole and with dim surprise, realised that it was in fact a Toad. _Well, well, well._ One of them did manage to find him then.

The Toad screamed as soon as he clapped eyes on Mario.

"Oh no! Mario? Is that really you?" he said, quivering.

"The one and only," Mario answered glumly.

"Mario! Ohnoohnoohnoohno, h-h-how did you end up in a painting? What sort of fiends would do this to you? This is completely terrible! What would the Princess say if she saw you like this?"

"You're no oil painting, that's for sure?"

"Mario, this isn't a time for crummy jokes! She would flip! She would be absolutely devastated! How in the heck are we gonna get you out of there? How in the world were you put in this… this… painting in the first place?"

Mario hesitated. "I'm not completely sure. There was this large machine which was the last thing I saw before waking up here. I think they might have put me in it and, I don't know how, turned me into a painting I suppose."

The Toad looked seriously alarmed. "Mario! What if you're trapped inside this painting forever? We… we have to get you out of there this instance!" Toad looked at his surroundings wildly, as if he would suddenly find the solution. "Can't we just rip you out of there or something? It's only a painting!"

Mario winced. "Sounds painful," he said. "Somehow, I don't think you can destroy the painting without destroying me. And besides, weren't you there when Bowser stole all of those Power Stars and the only way to travel to the places where he kept them was through those paintings?"

The Toad shook his head. "I've not been in her Highness's service for all that long," he admitted. "I never expected to get a job at the castle in the first place but I get to see her, I often see you and your brother…"

"Hey!" said Mario interrupting him. "Have you seen Luigi yet? He was supposed to come here but I got captured and I don't know where he is!" _And I'm worried about him,_ he added silently to himself.

"Luigi?" said the Toad blankly as if he had never heard of the name before. Mario resisted the urge to want to smack the glass in front of him. "No, I haven't seen him yet. I hope he comes, maybe he can free you…"

"I hope so, too," sighed Mario. "I don't know how Peach copes with this waiting! Or this feeling of helplessness!" Mario banged the wall behind him in frustration and received a lot of pain for his trouble. The Toad looked sympathetic.

"I know," he said sadly. "Especially as we depend on you so much. I suppose Peach copes because she knows that you will always come for her. And well… I suppose we have never been much help to either of you…."

"You do what you can," said Mario kindly.

"If you put it that way, it's better than nothing I suppose," said the Toad sighing. "Anyway, you're used to being able to help others, Mario so you're going to find this hard. If only there was some way to reach you…"

"Do you know how to get to that door?" asked Mario pointing. "You might have to go through some corridor or something. But I think it might be enchanted shut and I don't know where the key is…"

Suddenly, as if their conversation had been privy to others, the door was starting to unlock itself; the barrier was dissolving before their eyes. The Toad was already starting to panic and with this unexpected intrusion, Mario suddenly remembered something.

"Hey!" he hissed. "While I was being chased through the Mansion, I dropped some stuff including a letter. If Luigi hasn't seen these guys then, then he needs the letter at the very least! Find them for me!"

The door violently swung open and Mario was blasted with a shot of Boo magic, lifting him off his feet and sending him careering into the canvas wall. He saw stars floating before his eyes. He felt like he was in agony… but how did that magic pass through the painting without damaging it? He heard the Toad suddenly flee and saw the torchlight fade away again.

Mario almost gulped when he saw King Boo's wrath, such as it was when he found out that already, Luigi had taken a few of the Portrait Ghosts out of action including a 'Boss Ghost' named Chauncey. A few of his Boo minions who had accompanied him were cowering before their lord as he ranted and raved about this human foe. He wanted more ghosts to patrol the corridors, he wanted Luigi destroyed. Why had he been given a chance? Who had decided to give him a chance?

Mario smiled to himself, fortunately hidden from King Boo's view.

_Well done, Luigi._

King Boo was finally calming down now that he had vented his anger. He knew that there were several other Portrait Ghosts yet for the moustachioed man to battle and all of them were a lot more powerful than the puny ones that he had recently faced. And besides, the Boos who formed the massive Boolossus had been training for this very battle. He would allow them to have fun with Luigi; show him what he was up against…

King Boo stared at Mario who raised an eyebrow and stared back. He would not allow the ghost to get the better of him; he simply couldn't. King Boo motioned for the others to leave and floated over to the painting. The look that he gave Mario could only be described as one of pure hatred.

"I'll see you dead before your brother arrives here…" he hissed menacingly, eyes flashing blood-red. "You can be sure of that, little Red-Cap, try as you might to get free. And we will make sure that your brother will not go unpunished for his defiance against my ghosts. Let us say, you got off lightly."

Mario growled as King Boo launched in a tirade of laughter and threw himself against the barrier even though this would achieve nothing. He winced and held his hand up to the long cut which he had just made on his face. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Luigi, almost hidden completely from view in the same secret passage that the Toad had gone down earlier. Luigi had noticed Mario before Mario had noticed him and now he had switched his attention to King Boo who felt that he could be jubilant in his upcoming victory.

"Luigi…" Mario whispered, noticing how upset his brother was. "I'm so sorry that I dragged us both into this. I should have waited for you but hey, you know what I'm like."

He saw Luigi quickly get up and run away from his hiding spot; Mario also saw the strange device that he was carrying on his back. What was it? Looked like some sort of vacuum cleaner. Was this what Luigi was using to get rid of the ghosts? No wonder King Boo was mad; how could such a machine defeat a whole barrage of ghosts?

"Aha, so good to see you my friend," said King Boo.

Mario frowned for it seemed to him that the ghostly monarch was talking to thin air until he realised that a shadow waiting in the corner materialised into a clearer form. He was carrying a palette with him and several paintbrushes tucked into his pockets. This Portrait Ghost's name was Vincent Van Gore.

"Ah! Zis eez terrible, non? How can my masterpieces be defeated by zat lowly creature with a vacuum cleaner?" He ranted and raved, taking little notice of King Boo who was just floating there. "It burns ze soul to see zer creations defeated like zat!"

"Calm yourself," said King Boo. "Make ready, you will simply have to create some stronger enemies. You do say the power is in the brush, correct? They do say that art is a painful subject, though."

"I am suffering for ze causes of art!" Van Gore cried.

"Nevertheless, we do need some brute force behind these ghosts. I fear that your foe is becoming rather strong thanks to that infernal Poltergust 3000 he carries with him. Bleh!"

_Poltergust 3000, huh,_ thought Mario. _Sounds like something a crazy professor would invent._ Then Mario realised something important. _There was a professor hanging about near the Mansion earlier, wasn't he? Stars above, I'm so stupid, he warned me not to go to the Mansion, he warned me…_

_And I thought I knew better._

Vincent Van Gore looked slightly worried. "Ah, oui. But zere eez just one teensy little problem with zat, kingie."

"Then please tell me that you have simply run out of paint," said the monarch. "And under no circumstances, do you call me, kingie. I had this place built as a shelter for all of you ghosts you know."

"Of course, of course," the artist said. "But I appear to have ze problem of ze artist's block. It may be difficult for moi to create some stronger ghosts…"

"I don't want excuses," said King Boo dangerously. "I want results!"

Van Gore sighed. "An artist's life can be very troublesome at times, oui…"

He then noticed the magnificent painting behind King Boo before realising that its occupant was in fact, moving and alive. He was also being glared at and by George that was some lifelike art…"

"I am alive you know," growled Mario, his arms folded across his chest.

"Perhaps not for long," said King Boo, lightly. "What do you think, Vincent?" he asked. "I think that this is the start of a marvellous and most splendid collection, yes?"

"Oui," he said, completely agreeing just so that he could leave faster. "Although, vat is ze name of zis painting?"

"The name's Mario," said Mario, punching the glass again, getting the message across that under normal circumstances, he was not to be trifled with. King Boo thought that this was quite amusing.

"Hmm… I suppose it is not too bad," said Van Gore, giving Mario his art critique. "Although I must say, I have seen better paintings than zis one."

"Thanks very much," said Mario sarcasticly.

"Come, we shall now leave you in your prison," said King Boo as he directed Vincent Van Gore towards the door, impatient in his desire for stronger enemies. "We shall be meeting again shortly though. Perhaps I should watch your brother's progress? I do so hope that my Boos will take care of him, he released them earlier you know. Quite by accident but nevertheless, it is his fault that we are all here. And once we have him in our grasps, rest assured that I will be putting him through the Ghost Portrificationizer. Then, I shall have a truly wonderful collection of paintings."

"Wait!" Mario cried. "So you put me through this Ghost Portraf… Portif… whatever to turn me into a painting?"

"Of course," said King Boo heartily. "Another genius invention from the mad-cap scientist. It seems that mortals do have their uses. Farewell, my old foe!"

King Boo left the Secret Altar along with the Ghost Painter and Mario heard the magical thorny barrier being erected again. He sighed and leaned back on the wall. Something moved. It was behind the velvety curtain that Mario thought was just the canvas. He pulled it apart and gasped in shock when he saw what loomed above him.

"A Bowser suit…" he breathed. "What in the world has King Boo got a Bowser suit for?"

Mario had no way knowing the precise details of the villain's plan; he only knew though that this was to be King Boo's choice weapon against his brother. And a little Hoover wasn't able to do much against that. No doubt it was powered up with all sorts of fancy Boo trickery. Just what was the extent of his hatred against the pair of brothers?

Mario pulled the curtains to again and reminded himself just how far Luigi had got thanks to the courage that few people thought he had. Luigi would do whatever it took to get here and reach his brother. There was no way he was giving up now.

Mario smiled faintly and made himself comfortable. He trusted in Luigi. He didn't how long it would be until they were together again but he could sense that his sibling would save him.

"Luigi," he whispered to the darkness in a language that few others understood in this kingdom; one that seemed important to say now; one that connected himself to his brother. _"So che lei potrebbe essere spaventato ma coraggioso. Credo in te, fratello..."_


	3. Being A Brother

**Wow... has it been so long? How on earth did it take me so long to finish what for me, is a relatively short story? Well first, I sincerely apologise for leaving it for a ridiculously long time. It's been so long that we finally did get a Luigi's Mansion game for the 3DS (which is excellent I must say.) **

**I'll admit I forgot about this for a while. Then I guess I got distracted by my other works and I wondered whether it should remain a two-parter after all or make it a three-parter. (There are four parts now but that's because I had to split it; the document came in at over 11, 000 words!) I eventually came to the conclusion that it would be somewhat unfinished at a mere two parts and so after fulfilling requests, doing university work, trying to set some time aside for my other stories, etc, I finally got round to finishing off my poor, neglected story. I guess there's a lesson to be had out of this: don't do too my stories at once. That is my weak point I'll admit. Too many ideas, not enough time to do them in. (And probably other excuses to be had but I'm glad that it's not just me with them.) **

**Anyway, that's enough waffling from me. I hope you enjoy the rest of _Brother, Where are You?_ and your kind reviews are eagerly accepted and read as always. :)**

* * *

**Being A Brother**

What a night it had been, Luigi thought, as he made his way through the old haunted Mansion once again, clutching the nozzle of his Poltergust 3000 as if it was his only lifeline, which, all due things considered, it was. He was relieved when some of the Common Ghosts had started avoiding him since this could only make things easier for the green-capped plumber. Of course, there were still many ghosts roaming about the corridors that loved nothing more than to try and play some pranks on the human that had so foolishly wandered into their midst. Luigi was currently sporting a bloodied nose as the result of opening a fake door that had immediately slammed him against the wall, all for the amusement of the ghosts of course.

As Luigi climbed the stairs that would eventually lead him to the balcony, he thought about the ghosts he had met and captured so far. Melody Pianissima, whom he had met in the Piano Room, was a spectral delight who enjoyed playing some oddly familiar tunes when she wasn't attacking the hapless plumber with her own song sheets. Truth be told, he wouldn't have minded listening to more of her music if the circumstances were different; she must have been quite the musician when she was alive he supposed.

Miss Petunia, Nana and Biff Atlas were just a few more of the ghosts that he had to do battle with, all of them wishing to do away with this living presence disturbing their apparently peaceful afterlife (if one forgot about the disputes between Nana and Miss Petunia that is). The Elemental Medals that Luigi had earlier acquired certainly proved their use when dealing with the Mansion's Ghosts; using the Ice Medal to freeze Miss Petunia's bath in order to weaken her was quite the lucky stroke. The Water Medal he could use to douse any flaming spectres and the Fire Medal was a handy tool to let him set other ghosts alight and drain their health. Such were the items that he needed to make use of and such items that he would hand over to Professor E. Gadd once his night's work was accomplished since Luigi had no intention of becoming a master of ghosts. Any future adventures would seem a doddle compared to this he tried to tell himself. What monsters could be as terrifying as the spectres who had tried to drain his life force on a repeated basis? Well…

Bogmire… Luigi was just thankful that that battle did not last too long for he discovered that this particular phantom was the manifestation of the Mansion's fear and despair, and as far as Luigi was concerned, the manifestation of fear and despair in general. He could barely stop shuddering when he faced down that ghost; a ghost that did not even say a word and stared straight through him with blank, soulless eyes. During that battle, Luigi had the horrifying feeling that if Bogmire and the Black Bogmires it summoned had somehow been able to overpower him, it would have sucked out his soul and taken over his body. Considering that it was known as a Cemetery Shadow, the idea was not all that far-fetched. The shadows that tried to engulf him, the darkness that tried its utmost to infect his heart… let us say that Luigi could barely wait to turn this phantasmal creature into a painting though he never asked why E. Gadd wanted this particular specimen as a painting in the first place, that cold, soul-destroying… no. He needed to think of something else.

Though he had been terrified by all of the other ghosts, Luigi could not help but feel unusually sad and downhearted when Madame Clairvoya requested that she be turned back into a painting where she could rest in peace in the comfort of oils now that her purpose had been accomplished. Luigi had been most unwilling at first, not wishing to banish her to a still painting when she had assisted him so much. But the clairvoyant had been insistent and Luigi was shocked to stillness when she had floated over and planted a kiss on his lips, making a not unpleasant chill run down his entire body. He seemed to find his composure then and fulfilled her request though not without a heavy heart.

_Destiny chooses our paths_, she had told him. Her destiny had been fulfilled but Luigi's still stretched a long way yet. Rescuing Mario from King Boo was merely one strand of his destiny, part of a cluster of destinies in protecting the Mushroom Kingdom, the world, and eventually the universe. And even then, the brothers' destinies did not end there…

Thinking about her words, Luigi was troubled by Madame Clairvoya's prediction of seeing Bowser within the Mansion. Like her, Luigi was sure that Mario had soundly defeated Bowser, maybe for good this time, the brothers certainly hadn't heard anything of him for weeks, which in Bowser's terms, was an awfully long time. And if he had been revived say, why was the Mansion not overrun with Koopas and Magikoopas and the like? And indeed, why would Bowser and King Boo join forces at all? They absolutely hated each other and Luigi wasn't entirely convinced that they would cooperate for the sake of bringing down the brothers since neither would want assistance from the other who would then take all the glory. And surely, with all these Boos about, Luigi would have heard word about Bowser by now and he was not even mentioned in Mario's letter. Luigi sighed. All these questions and he was getting no answers.

He was onto the balcony now and Luigi flinched when he heard the close rumble of thunder and saw the occasional flash of purple lightning illuminating the inky-black sky. He then noticed that the Boo Radar on his Game Boy Horror was flashing red and beeping like crazy. Luigi gulped when he spotted the group of Boos in the centre of the balcony and knowing that it was his duty to capture them all, he cautiously crept towards them. The Boos were not doing anything malicious at the moment, rather, they were holding hands and moving about in a circle so they all must surely have realised his presence. And yet they were doing nothing else. This increased Luigi's apprehensions rather than decreasing them.

"That scaredy-cat Luigi has made it this far…" one of them mumbled loud enough for Luigi to hear. If he wasn't feeling so scared, he would have considered that statement rather insulting. "Oh, we're so frightened!" it said mockingly. "I guess it's our turn then. All right, Boos, let's assume our real form. But first, how about giving him a little scare?!"

_What?! _Before Luigi could confront them, the Boos suddenly vanished before his eyes and reappeared surrounding the hapless plumber. They merrily cackled as they circled him getting increasingly faster with Luigi quivering all the while. There was no way he would able to dispatch these Boos in the same manner as the others! If he tried to suck one of them up, the others could simply attack him while his back was exposed. Luigi only dared to look up when he realised that they had not attacked him yet. There was that familiar psychedelic background; that odd spectrum of colours that told him he was in for a world of pain delivered by a bunch of supernatural beings. He noticed too, how cold it had now become, a usual occurrence with such a large concentration of ghostly manifestations. In fact, ice had crystallised on the horned statues on both sides of the balcony. But now… where were the Boos?

"_Mamma mia!"_ Luigi screamed. Those Boos had joined together to form one extraordinarily large Boo, Boolossus, in fact, and it was speeding down towards him. Luigi was frozen in place and only managed to move at the last minute, narrowly avoiding the crushing weight of the Giant Boo that was now madly laughing at him.

"**Think you can deal with us?!"** Boolossus laughed mockingly. **"A puny, cowardly human like you? Ha! You're not fit to polish King Boo's crown! You're not even fit to hang on the wall next to your brother!** (Luigi gulped at that particular phrasing. When he had been in the Telephone Room, answering a call from Toad, lightning flashed and Luigi had caught a glimpse of his shadow thrown onto the wall, looking very much suspended from the ceiling and lifeless. He wasn't sure whether it was his imagination playing tricks on him or a subtle message from the Boos.) **"King Boo didn't tell us if we were to bring you back alive or not! Won't it be nice to be reunited with your brother again? It's a shame you won't be alive to witness it!"**

"Threaten me all you want!" Luigi snarled. "You might be trying to scare me now but there's no way I'm going to let you kill me and there's no way I'm going to let Mario be imprisoned any longer!"

Boolossus snickered at this declaration of… was it supposed to be bravery? and lunged forward with the intention of crushing Luigi's very bones into the cold stone beneath. The green-capped plumber then caught the giant ghost in the Poltergust 3000's suction but if he thought that he could suck Boolossus into that tiny machine, then he was not only a coward, but an idiot too.

But wait! This was not supposed to happen! Luigi had directed Boolossus to the frozen horn of the statue upon which Boolossus suddenly popped and split into all fifteen Boos. He saw that these Boos were somehow different to the ones he had encountered earlier so that the best method available to dispatch these ghosts was to make use of that Ice Medal, and suck up the Ice Podoboos to freeze those cackling spirits with.

"Why are you giving us such a cold reception?" one of them howled as Luigi froze its nearest companion with a well-aimed ice shard before vacuuming up its chilled body.

Luigi did not answer. Instead, he focussed all of his attention on taking out the Boos one by one. "I fight ghosts…" he muttered to himself. "I fight ghosts…" He gasped and panted for breath as the Boos assembled themselves again with Boolossus showing off its extraordinarily large teeth. Luigi tried not to think about those crunching into his body and attempted to ignore those large, glowing devilish eyes. "I fight ghosts… Ghosts don't scare me…" A blatant lie of course but if he could convince himself of it for a short while, then perhaps he would win this battle almost completely unscathed, almost being the operative word for several of the Boos, when split up, had already launched their full-bodied assaults on him.

Lightning continued to streak across the black sky and it now began to rain torrentially. Luigi was soon soaked to the skin although the Boos didn't pay any attention to the tumultuous weather. Rather, they revelled in it and flitted to and from Luigi as if this was all rather a fun game. They wouldn't have minded playing games like this more often since the look of terror on Luigi's face was just so _satisfying._

A couple more of their companions were sucked up when they had been split up again but there were still plenty of Boos to deliver punishment unto the human that had so foolishly wandered into their midst. One of them even sank its overly-large fangs into Luigi causing the hero to yelp in pain and slip into one of the puddles, causing another jolt of pain to run through him. The Boos laughed gleefully at this spectacle and resumed their gigantic form.

"**Do you honestly think that you can defeat us?!" **Boolossus laughed mockingly, even though it was quite a few Boos down. **"You're the most cowardly human we've ever seen! Actually, make that the most cowardly mortal we've ever seen! We'll have such fun tormenting you in your dreams; we'll make them into your worst nightmares ever! Don't think that you can escape from us even if you somehow manage to suck every last one of us into that vile machine of yours. No, we'll make sure that you'll suffer. Because even if you do survive and we decide that you can live, your brother certainly won't. You'll only ever see him again in your darkest, most terrifying dreams, and you'll be begging for our mercy. And we don't have mercy…"**

Luigi let out a full-throated scream, greatly startling Boolossus, but less so than the piercing glare he gave it now. He ran forwards faster than it anticipated and it backed into the frozen unicorn statue only to be split into individual Boos again. The ferocity with which he tackled them now was astounding. Many of them were too afraid to tackle him and the ones that still had their courage had no way of landing their blows; the green-hatted plumber simply dodged each one of them. Many of them did not even have time to squeal before Luigi deftly froze them and sent them packing to the Poltergust being utterly drenched, Luigi did not look washed-out and pathetic; rather, he looked even more ferocious because of it.

Soon, Luigi had whittled down the group to just one remaining Boo. It looked just as tired as Luigi felt but that didn't mean it was going to stop there and accept defeat. In fact, it managed to land several blows on Luigi, being quicker on its own than it was when in a large group.

"Humph. You can be quite strong when you want to be, can't you? I have to say, I'm kinda impressed." Luigi raised an eyebrow, wondering what the Boo was planning to do. "I don't know what His Majesty is thinking exactly but I bet he won't be displeased in having a strong opponent. Haha! Even stronger than Mario, I guess! He went down so easily it wasn't even funny. Well, maybe it was a little. Oh, alright, it was hilarious. You should have seen the look on his face," the Boo suddenly smirked. "Scared to death practically, knowing that our king was behind this. And that was before we took him to that portrait machine. He almost looked… cowardly. Just like you."

Luigi lunged forwards with the Poltergust 3000, unable to listen to anymore. He launched an ice ball and struck the Boo freezing its expression into that of a mocking grin. He vacuumed the last one up and wiped excess raindrops from his eyes.

"Nobody messes with my bro," Luigi said quietly. And nobody messes with me either."

He slung the nozzle of the Poltergust 3000 onto his back and retrieved the key that he needed to open the next door.

"There shouldn't be that many Boos left now…" he muttered to himself. "There aren't that many Portrait Ghosts left either. I'll get you out of that painting soon, big bro. Just you wait and see."

* * *

Once again, Luigi had made the trip to Professor E. Gadd's lab to offload the Poltergust 3000 of the new Portrait Ghosts he had collected and Luigi was especially glad to see Boolossus in canvas after that difficult battle. Professor E. Gadd also insisted that despite Luigi's protests, he at least take a short rest and have some dinner. Luigi would have disagreed to this too had his stomach not growled so hungrily.

Now Luigi was back onto the balcony and wishing that he was able to rid himself of the taste of pickled dandelions with barnacles in a diesel marinade; old family recipe indeed. Luigi only ate a little of it to seem polite and said that he couldn't manage the whole portion when he was so worried about Mario which, in his defence, wasn't exactly untrue; he generally couldn't eat when worried sick about anything. Now Luigi had to fight off the urge to throw it all back up; E. Gadd might have been a brilliant scientist but he sure as hell wasn't a good cook.

Luigi fumbled in his pockets for the key he retrieved earlier, thinking that perhaps fighting off some ghosts would do him some good at the moment even if most of them were bloodthirsty and hankering for his life-force much of the time. He went to place the key in its lock but at that moment, the number of lightning bolts seemed to suddenly increase, striking everywhere without hesitation. One such bolt struck the Mansion roof, shorting out its electricity supply.

All had been plunged into darkness.

* * *

Mario did not notice the Mansion suddenly descending into darkness as the room that he was still trapped in was lit by fire lanterns only par King Boo's particular tastes. The only thing he really noticed was his face reflected in King Boo's substantial collection of treasure and he was getting increasingly sick of it. He desperately hoped that if there was to be another occasion in which he was to be captured, then he wanted some entertainment at hand or at least something in which he did not notice time passing. His monotony was only broken when the Toad he had spoken to before came down the dark corridor and placed his face in the gap where Mario could see him. Mario had flinched at the sound of the footsteps. _I've definitely been in here way too long._

"Hey," said Mario as the Toad got his breath. "Is Luigi OK? How is he doing? How many of those Boos has he captured? Has he seen King Boo yet? Has he-"

"Slow down, Mario!" the Toad gasped. "I only came down here to see how you were coping. Not very well, I guess." He pointed to Mario's slightly singed hat and his rather roughed-up appearance. Though escape from the portrait was absolutely futile, Mario was still attempting it out of sheer boredom or whenever King Boo provoked him enough. King Boo found it especially amusing in any case. Indeed, Mario had begun to dread King Boo's little visits; his heart jumped every time the door creaked open for he kept expecting the grinning monarch to be followed by his cohort of Boos dragging behind them an unconscious Luigi, or perhaps even worse…

"I've coped with worse," Mario muttered, telling himself not to snap. Having almost been killed by Bowser one time was definitely one and had it not been for the timely intervention of a young Goomba girl, Mario would undoubtedly have died. Luigi would not have known what had happened until it was too late. He still didn't know about that, truth be told. Why bring up such a subject now? Why plant the seeds of your worst nightmares? "Anyway, can you answer any of my questions?"

"Well, he's doing alright, I guess," said the young Toad. "I mean, I wouldn't fancy going up against those ghosts. Th-that's why I'm h-here now as a m-matter of fact…"

Mario raised an eyebrow and for a moment, considered how on earth the Toads had the audacity to call his little brother a coward. "I thought all those ghosts had been cleared from that area."

"Th-they were. But the power's g-gone out so they've all come back. I only just avoided that ghost at the bottom of the well. At least it doesn't want to follow me…"

_All of Luigi's hard work undone, _Mario thought sadly. "I'm pretty sure my bro will be getting round to fixing that now," said Mario confidently. "He knows what he's doing. My bro gets things done."

If Mario was meaning to drop a hint on the Toad, then it wasn't being taken on. "Well, I hope he does it quickly," he shivered. "I can't stand being outside with all those ghosts out there."

"I'd rather be out there with all those ghosts than trapped in here with one ghost for company," Mario said quietly. As if words were magically heard from elsewhere, the door began to unlock itself once again. The Toad ducked out of sight and put out his torch. Mario almost gave a sigh of relief when it was just King Boo; he hadn't brought Luigi with him. Unless, of course, King Boo decided to announce that he had a surprise for Mario, one that he would never forget…

"Isn't this wonderful?" King Boo smiled as he decided to polish the gold frame surrounding Mario yet again.

"What? You mean the fact that Luigi has been taking care of every one of your damn Boos and Portrait Ghosts. Oh, I agree, it's wonderful," said Mario, trying to keep his eyes level with King Boo's. "How many are you down to now? Ten? Or even less?" Mario could not hide the fact that he was unnerved when King Boo did not glare back at him or even give him a blank expression, but instead, a small smile that scared Mario more than anything.

"Would you like to see your brother?" King Boo asked delicately.

Mario froze. He felt something in his chest tighten. "…What do you mean by that?"

"What do you think I mean? Dear me, I do believe imprisonment is making you quite slow, my old foe. Now Boos, bring in my favourite prisoner."

Mario pressed himself against the glass as the door swung open once again. He saw the glowing Boos carrying something, something like a dead weight in fact. _Please no, please no…_

"NO!" Mario screamed as Luigi's body was dumped in front of him. His brother was unmoving; a single streak of blood ran down his face, past his closed eyes and into the luxurious moustache he was so proud of. His little brother was lying at an odd angle, as if each bone in his body had been viciously broken. How odd then, that he looked relatively peaceful in death, as if he was just sleeping. But then, Mario could not ignore the other injuries brought against Luigi; the blood staining a dark patch on his overalls where his heart rested, a slash mark on his right arm and another one on the lower part of his torso. A shoe was also missing. Even a shoe was missing, showing a red and white striped sock.

"_Luigi…" _Mario's entire frame was shaking. It couldn't be. This could not be happening. Tears rolled down his cheeks before he could do anything to stop them. "Little bro… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. I wish… we had more adventures together. I believed in you, Luigi… even when others didn't…" Mario couldn't look up for several minutes and could not compose himself when he glared at King Boo. "You… you… _murderer._ You murdered my brother. He was just trying to rescue me, this idiot that ran off without waiting for him. But you killed him… you just _killed _him…"

"He tried putting up a fight you know," said one of King Boo's cohorts. "But it was a piece of cake once we got rid of that machine he was carrying. He was cowering and crying out for you when we all surrounded him." The Boo gave a smirk. "He barely did anything. He knew he couldn't be saved or anything like that because no-one else cares about your little brother. He just stood there and accepted his death."

"You liar!" Mario screamed. "My brother wouldn't just give up like that! And others do care for him!" _Then why do they keep forgetting his name? _a little voice in the back of his mind told him. _How come they just ignore him at times? _"Don't presume that you know Luigi the way I do because you never can."

"Knew," King Boo whispered. "You knew somebody who is now dead."

Mario lost all control then. He tried his utmost to smash the glass in front of him, painfully wishing that he had his hammer with him. The small room was filled with Mario's screams as he ferociously tried to set himself free, slamming his fists against his prison, throwing his whole weight against it. Anything, just anything, so that he might taste freedom and be with his brother again. No prison could be entirely unbreakable surely. And Mario was not going to sit back when for all he knew, the Boos could well decide to taunt Mario even further and humiliate Luigi even in death.

"How touching," King Boo sneered, wearing the most triumphant of expressions. "What shall you be like when I convert Luigi into a painting I wonder? Well, well, well, I shall hopefully look forward to seeing this performance again."

Mario paused, quivering with his exertions. His fists throbbed painfully where he had slammed them against the unbreakable glass. "Wha-" Mario's breath caught in his throat as Luigi's body suddenly disappeared before his eyes. _"What have you done to him?!" _he yelled.

"An illusion. Nothing more than an illusion. A quite fantastic illusion." King Boo waited for the light to dawn on Mario and cackled upon the moment of realisation. "I am quite gifted with this delicate art, you know. It is not an easy art to master but oh, I daresay the results were well worth the effort. Come, come now, you should not be looking at me as if you want to kill me, for, as I think you ought to have realised, I am in a position of power here whereas you are trapped inside a painting that despite all of your amusing antics, have not even managed to scratch."

"Is Luigi alive?"Mario said through gritted teeth, wishing that there was something he could grip in his rage.

"Now, I don't know about you, my fellow Boos," King Boo mused. "But I don't think our prisoner here is being particularly polite to us. Dear me, where are your manners? I thought you heroes were generally politer than this. Now, if you wish for an answer, you must at least say please."

"Please tell me if Luigi is alive." Mario tried to keep his face expressionless.

"Hmm… better, but I still detect the tone of insolence. This will not do at all." King Boo's red eyes gleamed with malice. "Start begging and I might think about giving you an answer."

Mario had never needed to beg for anything in his life, so to have to start doing it now in such circumstances was all the more humiliating. "Please, _please_ tell me, King Boo, if my brother is still alive."

"More."

Mario placed his palms on the glass and looked to where his brother had been lying. "I am begging you, King Boo, please tell me if my brother is still alive!"

"Good. Now say that again but with the words 'my gracious and most wise and benevolent King Boo.'" The minion Boos were laughing themselves sick behind their monarch.

Mario momentarily clenched his fists but he knew he would probably be made to do or say something even more humiliating if he refused. "I am begging you, my most gracious and most wise and benevolent King Boo, please, _please _tell me if my little brother is alive or not. KING BOO, I AM ON MY KNEES BEGGING YOU TO TELL ME IF LUIGI IS ALIVE! PLEASE TELL ME THAT MY BROTHER IS SAFE!"

King Boo laughed merrily, seeing that Mario had indeed sunk to his knees in desperation for news. One of the Boos even took a picture for him. "Very well then, you have pleased me immensely. Luigi is alive for the time being though after having defeated Boolossus, I shall not reckon on his chances if and when he finally does make it here. I am surprised he has got that far. I suppose there is something to be said about the power of siblings, hmm? But do not get your hopes up, my old foe. There are still some Portrait Ghosts to account for and there are a few of my Boos roaming about the Mansion still. And if he does get through all that… he still has me to face."

King Boo left Mario with that thought and sealed the entrance once again. The Toad, who had been lying out of sight throughout the entire exchange, picked himself up again and looked at Mario's painting. He was immensely shocked to see that Mario was trying and failing to hold back his tears.

"Mario," he called out. "Are… are you alright?" It was a stupid question really, but one that he really needed to ask.

"I… really thought Luigi was dead," Mario whispered. "And yet… now King Boo's gone away, I feel that I can sense my brother out there. I should have known… but, just seeing that…"

"Anybody would be shocked if they thought that they saw a family member dead in front of them," the Toad said in what he hoped was a reasonable tone of voice. "And if that King Boo can make such an illusion, he can probably make sure that you can't sense Luigi either with some sort of Booish magic."

"Y-yeah," Mario mumbled. He sat down heavily and took off his cap, turning it this way and that. Luigi was forever telling him to hand-wash that cap instead of sticking it in the washing machine. He always said that he would and then usually forgot and chucked it in with the rest of the clothes anyway. Thinking about that now, Mario knew that it was something he would miss immensely if anything did happen to Luigi.

"You know," he sighed, more to himself than to the Toad. "You guys seem to think that I'm invincible; that nothing can deter me or stand in my way; that nothing could take me down. Well, you're wrong. I'm not invincible, as you can see now. And if anything happened to Luigi… I honestly think that I'd be finished. I wouldn't know what to do other than taking revenge on whoever was responsible for the deed."

"You think so?" the Toad said quietly. He doubted that anyone had ever seen Mario like this _ever_. It was a stark reminder that for all of Mario's power, he had feelings like the rest of them. He could be scared and he could be devastated.

"Yeah. Because we don't have anybody else. We have friends, sure, but as for family, all me and my bro have is each other. If anything did happen to either of us, then the other would be alone. Alone for the rest of our lives…"

The Toad didn't say anything to that. What could he say? The pair sat in silence for a long time listening to nothing but the sound of the howling wind and the pelting wind. It was quite some time before the Toad noticed that the lights had come back on.


	4. Reunion

**I daresay that writing fan-fiction brings out the slightly sadistic side in me, as I've noticed while checking over my works. And darkness. I seem to relish bringing out the deep, psychological state of mind in characters and their relationships. Ahem! Anyway, here is the fourth part that would have been way too long for this story if joined together with the third part.** **Thank you for reading as always and also thank you for all of your patience if you're amongst the readers who have been waiting ages for an update. :)**

* * *

**Reunion**

"You ought to be proud of yourself, my boy. You've captured all of these ghosts in just a single night! I am glad you caught Uncle Grimmly before you turned the lights back on, I must say. You've only got Vincent Van Gore to collect now, and of course, that room's Boo, and then you'll just have to deal with King Boo. Come now, sonny, you look like you've been caught in a thunderstorm without an umbrella."

"I'm… just worried about Mario, Gadd," Luigi sighed, staring down at the Game Boy Horror that had served him so well. "And I know that King Boo's a really powerful ghost. I can't stop thinking about what will happen if I fail to defeat him…"

"Nonsense, my boy!" E. Gadd chuckled, even though he had been having similar thoughts. "I know you'll trounce that nefarious King Boo since your brother's counting on you to do so. You might well surprise yourself."

"I've been surprising myself quite a bit already." Indeed, Luigi was surprised that he had managed to go through the Mansion, surrounded by so many violent ghosts, without completely breaking down when all had gone dark. That he had managed to take down Uncle Grimmly so easily was a pleasant surprise as well. But as far as the Toads were concerned, they were just pleased Luigi had managed to turn the lights back on. Never had electric lighting been such a pleasure to behold.

"Well, there you go!" E. Gadd laughed jovially. "You don't know what you can do until you put your mind to it. Believe that you can do it, Luigi, and you will do it or my name isn't Professor Elvin Gadd! And look, if you can defeat Boolossus despite being utterly terrified of Boos as you have told me on several occasions, then you can definitely defeat King Boo. OK, I won't keep you any longer. Keep your wits about you and good luck, Luigi."

E. Gadd disappeared from the Game Boy Horror screen leaving Luigi on his own once again. The green-hatted plumber turned his attention to the Artist's Studio; the one which he surmised contained the key that would lead him to where Mario was trapped. Giving his cap a tug, Luigi entered the room and saw Vincent Van Gore the Ghost Artist busy at his work.

_So that's where all the Common Ghosts came from!_ Luigi realised. _They're just paintings that have been brought to life. But... why did they have to hurt so much?_

Van Gore must have heard his gasp of surprise as he said: "Eet eez you, no? You interfere with my life's work!"

_Your life? You're not alive anyway, if you were ever alive. You're a ghost and your works keep threatening to turn me into a ghost too._

"You filthy swine! You're blind to zee life I give my creations!"

Luigi gripped the Poltergust 3000 tightly and glanced at where he knew bruises and cuts to be. _Somehow, I don't think so. I'm certainly not blind to their actual force._

"Zen very well… I will show you zee mastery of my art!" Van Gore cried out.

_I won't let these ghosts scare me_, Luigi thought as three Gold Ghosts popped into existence, conjured up from the canvas. _At least_, as he flinched from their devilish grinning, _not too much. _

Fortunately for Luigi, having spent an awful lot of time tackling these rogue ghosts in the Mansion grounds, the ones that Van Gore had brought to life for him now, did not prove to be too problematic. In fact, it was as if the ghosts were already aware of what fate their painted brethren had met and that they had decided there was little point in resisting the relentless suction of the Poltergust 3000 that the young man was wielding. Luigi quickly avoided the spectral grasp of the grabbing ghosts and blinded them with a quick flash of his torch, rendering them weak to the power of his machine. The Purple Bombers and the Garbage Can Ghosts soon went the same way with Luigi slowly getting more confident with each ghost he disposed of.

_I guess that's why I never seemed to empty any common ghosts out of this thing,_ Luigi wondered as he vacuumed up the last wailing ghost. _They're only made up of paint and I can't get scared of paint._ At least, it sounded good when he put it that way.

"My… my creations!" Van Gore groaned when he saw that the Artist's Studio was bereft of ghosts. He shot a glare at Luigi. "But even if I disappear, my work will live on… Zat eez right, n'est-ce pas? Art eez eternal!"

"Oh, really?" said Luigi quietly. Even if ghosts weren't the subject of the art, Luigi would have disagreed with that statement since he was quite the art critic. "Then how come only one of your creations is left?"

"Zut alors!" Van Gore cursed. "Eet eez true!" The Portrait Ghost threw down a paintbrush in frustration. "Zat King Boo made moi believe zat vous were leetle more zan a pushover, a weakling. He commissioned moi to paint all of zese ghosts to life, to fill zis mansion and forestall vous on your way, for a leetle bit of fun. But he did not tell moi how you have been going through my creations like a hot knife through butter! Sacre bleu! I would chop off my ear if I could in frustration! You were supposed to fall and perish like ze mortal you are! You were supposed to be a joke!"

"Is that so? Well, if I'm the joke, here's the punchline."

Vincent Van Gore howled with fury as Luigi began dragging him towards the Poltergust 3000. The Portrait Ghost was putting up a good struggle though the only thing Luigi needed to watch out for was the occasional Poison Mushroom that would shrink and weaken him if it happened to hit him. Soon enough, with little to hinder him, Luigi had vacuumed Vincent Van Gore down into the seemingly-limitless bowels of the Poltergust 3000.

"Mamma mia," he whispered as he wiped his sweating brow. "That was the last Portrait Ghost." The Boo Radar started flashing forcing Luigi to wield the Poltergust 3000 again. "And here's the last Boo…"

Sure enough, when Luigi inspected the shelves, the last remaining Boo popped out declaring, "Bootique, c'est chic! Hey! Hey! Hey! What are you doing!" it shrieked as Luigi immediately began wearing down its health. "Oh, hey! You're Luigi! Magnifique! I'll just call for my buddies to take you down like we did to Mario!"

"Actually, you're the last Boo still left in this mansion apart from King Boo himself," Luigi explained. He could not help but smirk as the Boo's mouth comically dropped open. "But don't worry about it; you can join your friends or you can go back to King Boo and explain why everybody else failed to stop one measly mortal." The Boo paled if that was possible.

"I think I'll take the former option, thanks. So… everyone's in there?"

"A few are now; the others have been transferred when this was emptied of Portrait Ghosts."

"Wow, OK. Well, at least I'll get to talk to someone. But what about those Portrait Ghosts? Won't they be frozen and stuff?"

Luigi had raised this question with E. Gadd, wondering if it was right to keep ghosts trapped in paintings forever. Sure, most of them had attacked him for no reason but the others were just continuing activities that they had done in their lifetime. And some of them were just kids… they couldn't just be trapped like that. But while the ghosts couldn't move out of their frames, they weren't petrified forever per se. E. Gadd had taken Luigi to see how the portraits changed with each new ghost that he collected. As the frames filled up, the earlier ghosts seemed to treat Luigi with more respect, as a living being that could somehow overpower the dead. The canvas world was a rich one for ghosts; it was not just limited to the area that the living could see. It was the perfect place for those in the afterlife, there was sweet happiness in oils as Madame Clairvoya had told Luigi. Luigi explained this to the Boo who seemed much more reassured and more or less willingly left himself be taken by the Poltergust 3000.

He picked up the key that was thrown out of the canvas chest and curled his fingers around it. This would allow him access to the last room; the room in which he knew Mario to be trapped. And in that room… King Boo was waiting for him.

"Just a little longer, big bro," Luigi whispered. "I'll get you out of there. Just you wait and see."

* * *

The Toads that Luigi had met in various parts of the Mansion had now all congregated in the foyer, warming themselves next to a few of the lanterns they had taken from their respective rooms. Some flinched and some yelped and jumped to their feet when Luigi entered the room, not by means of the door, but rather, through the uncovered mirror.

"Stars above! How on earth did you do that, Luigi?" one of the Toads gasped. Luigi picked himself up and ignored the question. On closer inspection, the Toads saw how Luigi was looking worse for wear, with dried blood marking his face and his clothing scuffed and torn in several places. He was still damp from his earlier drenched battle though he still managed to carry himself upright hiding how exhausted he truly felt.

"Why are you guys still here?" Luigi asked with concern. "For all I know, there might be some ghosts that like hanging about in lit rooms. You should go to the Professor's hideout before you get placed in any danger."

The Toads gave each other wary glances.

"Well…" one of the Toads piped up. "We haven't seen anything like that and we've all come together for safety so it shouldn't be too bad. We thought that we would just wait here for Mario, you know, just in case…"

"That Mario somehow escapes? He's been trapped in a painting, Toad. Tell me how you escape from a painting."

"It's true," one of the others pointed out, the one who had been talking with Mario. "He's been trying for ages but there's no way for Mario to escape."

"Well, we were also waiting here just in case you…" The spokesman of the group trailed off to a mumble.

"In case I?" Luigi said in a low voice yet loud enough for everybody to hear him. "No, don't stop there. You've piqued my curiosity now."

"That… maybe… you… you know… didn't make it… or couldn't do it… and we had… to go and help say… and…"

"You believed that at the final step, I would chicken out and abandon my own brother," Luigi said icily, dropping the room's temperature by several degrees. "You think that I would run like a coward even though I have captured every Boo and every Portrait Ghost. You think that I am so _weak_ that there's no way I'd be able to do this. I suppose if it was the other way around, Mario would already have saved me by now. He wouldn't have even needed this machine, eh? And you would all jump for joy and tell Peach the good news and congratulate Mario on his latest triumph. Yeah, I can see that. And what about me? I suppose it would be a case of how did you manage to get yourself captured in the first place. It's just as well Mario was here to save you because there's nobody else. But since it was Mario who was captured, who'll save him? His brother? Oh, no, there's no way that Luigi will be able to do anything because he's petrified of ghosts! We'll find someone else to save Mario. We don't know but we'll find somebody! But who would you find, eh? Who would you find while my brother languishes in that canvas cage? It would have to be someone else because you don't think I'm up to the job! You don't believe in me! Nobody believes in me! WHO, IN THIS GREAT, BIG WORLD, ACTUALLY BELIEVES IN ME?!"

"Mario does…" said a quiet voice.

Luigi turned his attention to the only Toad that hadn't scuttled backwards for safety. Luigi breathed heavily, trying to calm down.

"He knows that you'll save him," the Toad continued. "Because nobody else can. He might not say it much; he might never have said it if I didn't see what King Boo did earlier, but… Mario would be lost without you, Luigi. And… you have to believe in each other just so that you have some hope because without it, then you might as well give up. But you're really close now, Luigi, so you can't give up. And for that reason… I believe in you too. And there isn't much that we can do I suppose but we can offer you our support. So… er… good luck, Luigi."

Luigi glanced at the others who nodded their approval. He looked at himself in the mirror and thought about what he had been through, what he had faced, to get to this moment. His was a mixture of feelings as he stared at his grim reflection. There was exhaustion and terror; they went hand in hand for him. There was anger; anger over the capture of his brother, towards King Boo and towards those who had felt Luigi incapable of the daunting task before him. And yet there was hope that he could do it, that he could defeat King Boo, and there was the expectation of joy when the brothers were once again reunited.

Luigi tugged at his cap and placed a hand on the door handle. His heart hammered with fear. Luigi knew that he would never get over his fear of ghosts but when he put his mind to it, there was no stopping him from standing up to that fear.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Luigi wrenched the doors open and was soon lost to sight whilst the lanterns that the Toads carried slowly died out.

* * *

"Mario…" Luigi whispered. He was now by the door that stood between him and his brother. The wandering path was strangely quiet without the ghosts pestering him on the way. "I hope I didn't take too long. I hope King Boo hasn't been tormenting you. Mario… I don't care what King Boo does to me but I promise I will get you out of there." Luigi shivered with apprehension and knowing what was to happen next, he unlocked the door with that final, heavy key.

The Secret Altar. This was where Mario had been kept all this time, alone but for King Boo's visits. Luigi gripped the Poltergust 3000 tightly and trembled with fear. King Boo was there, appearing to have an animated, one-sided conversation with Mario. Neither had noticed Luigi's presence. Luigi crept forwards all the while thinking: _How am I supposed to fight King Boo in this tiny room? _

"Aahh, I could just stare at my Mario painting for hours," King Boo sighed happily. Luigi froze on the spot, wondering what King Boo was going to say or do next. "It's true what they say about fine art… it takes utterly refined sensibilities to truly appreciate it."

"So I'm fine art, eh?" Mario muttered. "I suppose I make a far painting than you do."

"The way you plead for help, Mario…" King Boo continued, completely ignoring the red plumber. "I find it so… _satisfying_." King Boo smiled and spoke with relish over that particular part. "Perhaps that is merely because I remember how much trouble you've caused me in the past. Seriously though, who would actually believe that mansions get given away in contests?! Talk about stupid! What do they feed you Mario brothers on anyway… gullible soup?"

Luigi felt himself overwhelmed with guilt once again. King Boo was right. Talk about stupid and gullible. Luigi wondered if he would ever forgive himself for it.

"Your brother came all this way just to get turned into a painting… It's just terrific. However…"

Luigi gripped the Poltergust 3000 so hard he feared it might break when King Boo turned around suddenly; not appearing surprised by Luigi at all and treated the green plumber to his most menacing grin. Mario pressed his hands against the glass, utterly relieved to see his brother standing before him.

"This Mario painting looks lonely…" King Boo remarked. "I must have a Luigi painting as well! Then my gallery will truly be complete!" Luigi shuddered at King Boo's maniacal laughter and was unable to say a word. "I am not afraid of you fool! I fear only that infernal Poltergust 3000 you carry on your back! Stupid machine!"

_At least you fear something,_ Luigi thought. _It's got me this far and it will take me to the very end, King Boo. _

"But I am a KING amongst Boos. I swear it… I shall fear no mere house-cleaning device! I must say… I despise the way you SHWEEERRRPP-SHLOOOP-WHOOORP-SHLEEEOOORG-vacuumed up all my friends!"

Both Luigi and Mario inwardly snorted at that. Friends? King Boo? Those Boos that he regularly referred to as minions? Since when were they ever his friends? King Boo had followers, minions… he did not have friends.

"Don't imagine that I'll flee… I'll fight you like a true Boo!" King Boo declared. "Now join your brother… inside the painting!"

Luigi and Mario could only watch each other with horror as both disappeared from each other's sight. Whilst Mario was forced to a different part of the canvas, Luigi saw his brother's image be replaced by that of Bowser. _So Madame Clairvoya was right after all!_ Luigi thought, now utterly terrified. King Boo zipped inside the painting and before Luigi knew what was happening, Bowser's cavernous mouth opened and began creating a vacuum that Luigi could not escape from.

Luigi yelled in terror as he was sucked into the painting with the Secret Altar dissolving before his very eyes. Luigi assumed that he must have temporarily blacked out because the next thing he knew, he was standing on the Mansion rooftop with his surroundings a fiery inferno.

"Where are you, King Boo? Come out and fight me, you coward!" Luigi yelled as he whipped out the Poltergust 3000. _How did I end up here?_ he thought desperately. _Mario. Bro. Where are you? Am I… in the canvas?_

"Coward?" a voice called out although it did not sound like King Boo at all. "Look who's calling who a coward."

Luigi barely had enough time to scrabble out of the way before something heavy crashed onto the roof behind him, breaking tiles beneath its crushing weight. _Bowser!_ Luigi shuddered on the spot with realisation of what he was about to fight. Bowser snarled and breathed fire, presenting himself as a formidable challenge to anyone stupid enough to try and take him on, or indeed mock the Koopa King. Bowser grinned and made a show out of each one of his powerful, striking claws. A Poltergust 3000 would be no use against those sorts of weapons.

And yet something was not quite right about him. It was as if his head did not fit upon him properly; requiring a tighter screw when jarred upon impact with the roof. Luigi did not have the chance to figure it out any further though as Bowser launched a violent stream of fire against the plumber, causing Luigi to throw himself behind the relative safety of a pillar. He had to dodge again when Bowser charged into him, crushing several pillars as if they were children's sandcastles.

_Luigi. _

Luigi looked around. That was definitely Mario's voice but he was nowhere to be seen. "Bro!" Luigi called out. "Where are you, Mario? Waah!" Luigi was suddenly caught by Bowser's suction power although where he was supposed to have got that skill from, he had no idea, but all was dark. Luigi's cry of pain went unheard, trapped as he was between Bowser's large set of sharp fangs. It was also unbearably hot due to the flames that usually erupted from his insides. Luigi was spat out after what seemed like an eternity but before he could make a single move, Bowser roared and set him alight with another terrible blast of red fire. Luigi quickly put himself and his cap out and increased the distance between himself and his foe.

_Luigi! That isn't Bowser. He's not real. King Boo is only using a machine. You just need to figure out how to bring King Boo out of there. Come on, bro! You can do this! _

"Mario…" Luigi groaned. He had already been injured in earlier battles and now that pain had flared up again. He desperately looked for an opening but was forced to hide behind a pillar once again when the Boo-controlled Bowser threw several iron balls in his direction. _Wait._ An idea suddenly came to mind. _If King Boo tries to breathe fire at me again or suck me in, he can take one of these balls instead! _Despite everything, Luigi gave a confident smile. Villains often provided the means for their own defeat and here was the solution staring right at him. Luigi thought back to the words he had read from the Book of Riddles: _Instead of turning away, turn to the side and look at the mystery from a different angle. A way will surely open._

"Are you just going to keep running away?!" King Boo laughed mockingly. "Is this how you defeated all those Portrait Ghosts and all my Boos? I can only assume that they wanted to give me the pleasure of dealing you with you myself. How pathetic. You've only lasted longer than Mario because you've been given the chance to run away. But I shall contend myself with tearing you down once piece at a time!"

Luigi placed the nozzle of the Poltergust 3000 near the iron ball and sucked it up; it was too heavy to be picked up any further anyway and Luigi did not want to risk finding out if they exploded when handled carelessly. He urged himself to stay in his position even when Mecha Bowser came lumbering up towards him.

"A plumber like you should be all washed out not all burned out but I think I shall enjoy this spectacle anyway." Mecha Bowser prepared to breathe fire once again but this time, Luigi was ready for him and blasted the mecha with the iron ball which unsurprisingly exploded on contact. The result was… quite disturbing.

What Luigi did not expect was for the Bowser head to come flying off. He was suddenly brought to mind of a real-life decapitated Bowser and nearly threw up before reminding himself that it was just a machine. _Here's my chance!_ he told himself when King Boo came floating out somewhat dazed. As was his method when dealing with all the other Boos, Luigi began to drain King Boo's energy with the Poltergust 3000. As was expected, King Boo had a lot of energy but Luigi gritted his teeth with determination and kept the ghostly monarch within the vacuuming path.

_Luigi! Watch out!_

"Mamma mia!" Luigi yelped when Bowser's glaring head floated upwards and began shooting balls of ice at him. One chunk of ice hit Luigi sending an almost paralysing wave of coldness through his body, as if he hadn't already had enough to deal with by being set on fire and so forth. Clearly, King Boo had thought this one through. As a result, Luigi could not drain all of King Boo's energy in one fell swoop and the ghostly monarch retreated back into the safety of the machine's body.

"Don't think you can best me just like that!" King Boo hissed with the mecha Bowser's voice. "Remember, I am a King amongst Boos! A lord of ghosts! As a ghost, I am more powerful than a mere mortal like yourself. And ghosts… don't… DIE!"

"We'll see about that," Luigi muttered as he avoided Bowser's attempt of crushing him and picked up another one of the iron balls that King Boo obviously hoped to injure or even kill him with. If it was able to do so, Mecha Bowser's eyes would have widened as Luigi launched his next attack, straight into its open mouth, forcing King Boo back into the open.

"No! It shall not end this way! It won't end this way!" King Boo howled. Mecha Bowser's head wasn't doing enough to protect him he thought since the green plumber seemed to have worked out its attack patterns by now. The drain on his energy was startlingly fast. It was humiliating, succumbing to the power of a house-cleaning device wielded by none other than a lowly plumber! Had all his Boos felt this way, defeated by a being obviously lesser than themselves? King Boo tore himself from Luigi's grasp once again and fled into Mecha Bowser's innards.

Luigi swore when Mecha Bowser put its head on backwards and began charging in all random directions, crushing all in its path. Its tail swung at Luigi from nowhere, slamming into his body and flinging him onto the hard surface. Luigi picked himself up unsteadily and pressed a hand against where blood started seeping through his overalls again. He realised that one of Bowser's spikes must have dug into him and he was lucky for it not to have penetrated any further.

"I'm not going to be defeated now," Luigi growled. "No way! No chance! This ends here, King Boo!"

_That's my bro. _

"It only ends when I say so!" King Boo snapped. "And this shall end when I place you on the wall next to your brother! But do not think that you two shall have the chance to converse since you need two to have a conversation. Two _living_ beings I might add." Mecha Bowser bared his teeth at Luigi. "You shall have the honour of residing on my mansion walls for all eternity. In fact, perhaps I should leave you alive so that the two of you shall know that the true meaning of your failure for the rest of your lives. You will be forgotten by all those that you cared for. Your very names shall be reviled by every person living in every kingdom. You shall be cursed, loathed, feared and hated by every single being. And you shall spend every single day knowing that. You'll know of all the evil and darkness out there and you'll know that there is nothing, _absolutely nothing _that you can do about it. I shall make sure of that."

"No," Luigi said softly, even as the fires left behind by Mecha Bowser blazed behind him. "You're wrong, King Boo. _You're wrong._"

King Boo screamed, or rather, Mecha Bowser let off a ferocious roar that nearly deafened Luigi. It stormed forwards, claws outstretched, threatening to rip into its long-time foe. Luigi hissed when one claw found its mark, slicing into his shoulder. In the back of his mind, he could hear Mario's cry of concern. Trying to ignore his pain, Luigi nevertheless grimaced as he pulled up his Poltergust 3000 and kept the nozzle at a steady level. He just needed one more chance to finish King Boo off for good. _Three times the charm,_ he thought. It often took three chances to finish off villains like King Boo for good.

All of the pillars had crumbled now. Luigi quickly increased the distance between himself and Mecha Bowser as it threw another barrage of red-hot iron balls. Realising what Luigi was about to do and cursing himself for his atrocious error; King Boo forced Mecha Bowser into a forwards charge. Luigi stood his ground, waiting for the right moment, his eyes narrowed with determination.

King Boo suddenly realised that his momentum in his lumbering Bowser suit meant that he couldn't suddenly turn to the side to avoid the iron ball retaliation. He yelled as Mecha Bowser's head was blasted off and was immediately caught in the Poltergust 3000's powerful suction. He struggled wildly against it but Luigi struggled even harder if that was possible. The look that King Boo gave Luigi was one of pure hatred.

Before either of them knew what was happening, King Boo was sucked down into the bowels of the machine without even the opportunity to curse Luigi for his actions. His crown clinked heavily as it fell to the ground.

Luigi sank to his knees and panted for breath. Both Mecha Bowser's head and body collapsed onto the ground with a resounding thud. Luigi noticed the shining crown beside him and picked it up, staring into its depths.

"See, King Boo?" Luigi whispered. "Did you think I was just going to give up? Did you think my other wins were just down to luck?" Luigi shrugged. "Maybe they were and I somehow got through them. And you know, I was scared to death through pretty much all of them. But I still carried on. No matter how terrified I was, I still carried on because I wanted to save Mario. Mario would do the same for me. And there was no chance that I was going to give up on my brother, King Boo. Never…"

_Well done, Luigi…_

Luigi winced as he stood up and held his throbbing head. A flash of bright light nearly blinded him. When his vision cleared, he was surprised to find himself back in the Secret Altar. And there, on the wall, was Mario's painting. Luigi reached out for his brother…

"KRRZZZ… Luigi…"

Luigi flinched at the sudden sound crackling from his Game Boy Horror and wondered how the Professor knew the exact moment he had defeated a boss ghost or when something had happened to forestall Luigi such as when the lighting went out. He saw E. Gadd jumping about excitedly as he answered his handheld device.

"Luigi! You did it! Truly remarkable, my boy!" E. Gadd laughed jovially. "I supplied the Poltergust 3000 but you ran with it all the way to the top, sonny! You made me so…" Here E. Gadd sniffed. "Proud!" Luigi could not help but grin as E. Gadd told himself to get a grip. He then informed the good professor about his battle with King Boo and how he jumped into a painting of Bowser. Luigi hoped that the real Bowser would forestall his usual kidnapping of Peach for a good while yet and at least give him some time to recover from the whole event.

"Well, well…" E. Gadd remarked once Luigi had finished his explanation. "In all my years of ghost research, I've never heard such a fantastical tale. And let me tell you, my boy, that career has expanded an awfully long time. Why, I was still recall starting out as a young whelp who trembled at the mere thought of a ghost, TREMBLED I say!" Luigi stifled a yawn as E. Gadd began recollecting some old tale about ghosts or whatever and turned his attention to Mario who seemed to have fallen asleep. _He must have kept trying to escape_, Luigi thought, seeing signs that this was most certainly the case.

"… And that is why you should never approach a Slimer at its front," E. Gadd finished. "Oh, here I go again, an old man waffling on about things from years ago. Anyhoo, grab your brother's painting and bring him to the lab!" E. Gadd then chuckled on seeing Mario asleep. "He must have collapsed with relief and exhaustion when he saw you arrive," E. Gadd remarked. "Anyway, I'll get the machine set up and ready. I'll be expecting you both!" E. Gadd then cut the connection leaving Luigi on his own.

Feeling a huge sense of relief and somewhat unusually, pride, Luigi gently lifted Mario's painting off the wall and tucked in under his spare arm whilst pointing the Game Boy Horror at the mirror in the Secret Altar so he could simply transport himself back to the Atrium. He couldn't wait to see the looks on the Toad's faces once he got there.

"I did it…" he mumbled to nobody in particular. "See, bro? I got you. You're safe now. We're both safe now."

Luigi gave his reflection a smile of satisfaction before pressing the button on the Game Boy Horror that allowed him to warp through the mirror and leave the Secret Altar behind for good.

* * *

Though Professor E. Gadd knew of Mario's obvious importance, he made it clear that the ghosts Luigi had captured needed to be turned back into paintings first since the Poltergust 3000 was near fit to bursting and he did not want to risk the chance of the ghosts somehow escaping, especially with King Boo in there. Luigi watched King Boo and his Mecha Bowser's head get turned into a beautiful, striking canvas without expression. All he wanted to do was put this whole escapade behind him now. What he also wanted to do was rest his weary body to his heart's content.

"It's quite amazing that you managed to do all of this in a single night," E. Gadd mentioned conversationally as the machine performed its usual functions. "That mansion those Boos built seems to have disappeared into the night although that treasure seems to be real. I've no interest in those baubles so you might as well keep it, use it however you like!"

"Mm." Luigi didn't have much interest in those baubles either so he decided to do what he and his brother normally did when they went on a long adventure together and accumulated a lot of cash and that was give most of it away. He was just glad to have his brother back more than anything.

The Toads seemed to have found a new respect for him when Luigi suddenly turned up clutching Mario's painting in one arm. They would have pestered him with all sorts of questions about his battle with King Boo had Luigi given them the chance to do so; he had dashed off to E. Gadd's lab as soon as he had arrived. Luigi presumed that they all then went off to tell Peach the good news once they saw Mario with their own eyes. At least they now knew that he was capable of doing such things as rescuing his brother, as Mario would have done for him.

By now E. Gadd had reversed the controls on his Ghost Portrificationizer and placed Mario's frame at its very end. Luigi winced at his brother's every yelp and cry as he was put through all sorts to turn him back to normal. "It would have been worse being turned into a painting in the first place," E. Gadd remarked. "Why, this is like a gentle scrubbing in a bathtub compared to that."

_Great._ Being zapped, flattened, and put through the washing machine was apparently gentle, huh? At least the process was relatively quick. Still protesting, Mario was suddenly taken up the pipe connecting the washing tank to the compartment that Luigi normally connected the Poltergust 3000 with and landed with a heavy thump.

"Er… Mario?" Luigi called out, cautiously approaching the machine. He got his answer by way of Mario suddenly bursting out and crash-landing into Luigi with the machine's frame hanging around his neck.

"Mamma mia…" Mario murmured, understandably disorientated by his ordeal. He tried to stand up and promptly fell backwards again.

Luigi couldn't help it. He laughed. He laughed with relief, he laughed at seeing Mario on the floor looking as if he had touched several Fuzzies, he laughed at seeing his big brother look so ridiculous with that frame around his head. He also cried with relief at knowing Mario was safe and knowing, in the dark part of his mind, what the alternative would have been if Luigi had not managed to save him.

Finally, Mario managed to pull himself together and got to his feet. Luigi then found himself being grabbed by Mario into a tight hug and winced at the sudden flash of pain that coursed through him.

"Luigi…" Mario whispered. "I don't know what to say other than… thank you. Thank you for coming to get me, little bro."

"Heh… you would have done the same for me, Mario," Luigi murmured, somewhat embarrassed considering that E. Gadd could hear them talking and was only pretending to be suddenly interested in the paintings that he had restored with the Portrificationizer.

"That doesn't make what you did for me any less significant, Luigi," said Mario quietly. "And I'll admit it to you… I was scared. I was scared about what would happen to you… what was happening to myself. That King Boo… I wouldn't want to go through that again for the whole world. And I just thought about you and wished that… we went on more adventures together."

"Well, bro," said Luigi, trying not to well up. "The next time you get a call for adventure, I'm coming too. And even if you forget, I'll follow you. I'll always be there for you. Just remember… We're all here for you, bro. Always."

"I'll remember…" Mario said softly.

The brothers held each other for some time, happy to be in each other's presence one more, before E. Gadd announced whether they would like to stay for tea and rest before heading back home or to Princess Peach's castle as was the likely option. Luigi couldn't agree more to having some rest although this came at the price of E. Gadd almost force-feeding him a bottle of remedial potion made from Super Mushrooms and the like considering what Luigi had been through as well as slapping on the bandages and plasters wherever they needed to go.

Luigi hadn't told Mario what had happened to him whilst going through the Mansion as he dropped off with sheer exhaustion before E. Gadd could even bring the diesel marinade to boil. Even so, Mario recognised that something had changed in Luigi; he was stronger perhaps, and more courageous than ever before. _I guess something's changed with me too_, Mario thought as he tousled his brother's hair. His imprisonment had seen to that…

Mario glanced at King Boo's painting which E. Gadd hadn't had chance to put away yet and shivered. He wasn't convinced that King Boo would be kept like that for as long as Mario and Luigi lived. There was no doubt that King Boo was a powerful ghost and he could already be plotting on how to escape his painting prison and take revenge on the brothers, especially Luigi, seeing how he had humiliated him so. But… there was little point in worrying about that now. Luigi had been through hell to save him he gathered and King Boo was not about to terrorise them so soon, even if he freed himself the next day.

Mario knew with more powerful certainty than before that he could count on his brother even if others were slow to come to the same conclusion. They counted on each other because their lives depended on it. And more than just that, they were family. It didn't matter that both were considered superheroes by the general populace, Mario even more so.

Because sometimes… being a brother is even better than being a superhero.

* * *

**It took me ages to figure out how to defeat King Boo first time round, and then I saw the solution in my usual video game magazine a week after I did it. I'm glad I managed to complete it before then. And also, I bet many of you recognise a particular line of King Boo's and where it came from. :D**

**Also, for those of you who have played Mario and Luigi: Dream Team Bros, you might recognise one of Luigi's lines, his last line in fact. That game is so heart-warming and brilliant... I had to include that part in, I had to. Oh, yes, and that very last line? A quote from a chap called Marc Brown. It seemed very apt for this sort of story.**

**So, hey, thanks to all you readers out there and ciao for now!**


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